I 




MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 

OK 

John Alexander Logan, 

(A SENATOR FROM ILLINOIS), 
DELIVERED IN THE 

SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

February 9 and 16, 1SS7, 



THE FUNERAL SERVICES AT WASHINGTON, D. C, 
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1886. 



Prepared in accordance with joint resolution of Congress, and bv authority 
of the Joint Committee on Printing, 

BV 

W. B. TAYLOR, 

Clerk Committee Military Affairs, l T . S, Senate, 



DIVISI 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
I 8S7. 






APR 23 1901 
D, of D. 



THE FUNERAL SERVICES. 

At Washington, D. 0., Friday, December 31, 1886. 



John Alexander Logan, the senior Senator from Illinois, died 
at his home in Washington, D. C, a few minntes before 3 o'clock, 
on Sunday, December 26, 1886. 

Congress having adjourned for the holiday recess, the Presiding 
Officers of the Senate and House of Representatives took the accus- 
tomary action in arranging for the funeral. 

President pro tempore John Sherman, of the Senate, appointed 
the following committee of Senators to arrange for the funeral: Sen- 
ators Cullom, Stanford, Cockrell, Allison, Beck, Hawley, 
Voorhees, Hampton, and Manderson. 

Speaker Carlisle appointed the following committee to co-op- 
erate with those appointed by the Presiding Officer of the Senate: 
Representatives Thomas. Springer, Henderson. Townshend, Pay- 
son, Worthington, Hitt, Riggs, Rowell, and Neece, of Illinois; 
Reed, of Maine; Curtin, of Pennsylvania; Burrows, of Michigan; 
Symes, of Colorado; and Cary, of Wyoming Territory. 

A conference of the committee was held and the following-named 
gentlemen were selected as pall-bearers : Hon. Roscoe Conkling, 
Hon. Simon Cameron, Hon. Robert T. Lincoln. Mr. C. H. An- 
drews, Col. Fred. Grant, General Lucius Fairchild, General M. 
D. Leggett, Governor Jeremiah Rusk, General W. T. Sherman, 
General William F. Vilas, General John C. Black, and Dr. 
Charles McMillan, of the Loyal Legion, Washington. 

The body of the dead Senator remained in the death chamber at 
his residence, under military guard, until the day set for its removal 
to the Capitol, Thursday, December 30, 1886. 

Before the casket was removed, the family and their immediate 
friends gathered around the mortal remains of the heroic dead, and 
the voice of the Rev. Dr. Newman was raised in prayer. 

(3) 



4 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

After these brief services the casket, borne on the shoulders of com- 
rades of the Grand Army of the Republic, was removed from the 
death chamber and conveyed to the Capitol building, preceded by 
the committees representing both Houses of Congress, a guard of 
honor from the various Grand Army of the Republic and civic organ- 
izations of the city, followed by the family and friends of the deceased. 

At the Capitol the casket, wrapped in the American flag, was placed 
in the rotunda, resting upon a bier which had served a similar pur- 
pose for the remains of President Lincoln, President Garfield, 
Chief-Justice Chase, Senator Sumner, and Thaddeus Stevens. 
During the afternoon and night and until 11 o'clock on Friday, thou- 
sands of people viewed the remains of the dead Senator, general, and 
patriot. 

At 11.45 a. m. on Friday the casket was carried to the Senate 
Chamber where appropriate funeral services were held. Judges of 
the Supreme Court, members of the Cabinet, Senators and Repre- 
sentatives, and diplomatic repi-esentatives were present. Seats im- 
mediately in front of the casket were reserved for Mrs. Logan and 
family and relatives. 

Rev. Dr. John P. Newman, Chaplain Butler, of the Senate. 
Bishop Andrews, and Rev. Dr. Tiffany were the officiating clergy- 
men. 

The ceremony was beautiful, impressive, and touching. Fragrant 
flowers with endearing mottoes, the contribution of admiring friends 
throughout the country, occupied all the available space around 
about the casket. 

Bishop Andrews read the XC Psalm. Rev. Dr. Tiffany offered 
the prayer, after which Rev. Dr. Butler. Chaplain of the Senate, 
read the l/ith Chapter of Corinthians. 



Rev. Dr. John P. Newman then delivered the funeral sermon. 
He said : 

Again is this Senate Chamber the shrine of a nation's dead. 
Around us are the emblems of national grief. Once more is heard 
here the measured step of those who mourn the departure of the 
illustrious soldier, the faithful public servant, the honored private 
citizen, the abiding friend, t lie devoted husband, the loving father. 
Only those are thus honored at this shrine of the Republic whose 



Funeral Services. 5 

virtues, whose talents, whose services have secured for them the dis- 
tinguished position of Senator of the United States. 

Death is no stranger to this place of supreme legislation. Six 
times since 1859. when this Chamber was first occupied, has death 
thrown its shadow here. Here rested in peace Senator Hicks, of 
Maryland ; here lay the form of Foot, of Vermont, once the Pre- 
siding Officer of the Senate ; here was laid the majestic form of 
Sumner, learned, eloquent, philanthropic; hence was borne by 
friendly hands Wilson, who came forth from obscurity to occupy 
the second place in the Government of a free people ; and but as yes- 
terday we stood here around the bier of Miller, patriot and soldier, 
who sleeps in peace in the State he loved so well. 

And where else than here, in this place of honor, the arena of his 
greatest civic services and triumphs, where he displayed his eminent 
talents in statesmanship, where he was respected by all for the 
purity of his intentions, the ardor of his patriotism, the courage of 
his convictions, the power of his logic and his unselfish devotion to 
the public good— where else than here should Logan be honored 
with the rites of burial ? 

His was an honorable parentage. His father's genius and his 
mother's beauty blended in sweet harmony to bless his childhood. 
Irish brilliancy and Scotch solidity combined in his temperament, 
while he stood forth the true American and the typical man of the 
West, of whom his nation is justly proud. From them he inherited 
his splendid physique, his capacious intellect, his loyal, loving, gen- 
erous heart. In that Christian home his young intellect was devel- 
oped, and his young heart was taught that divine religion from which 
he never wavered : and when the homestead was broken up, all he 
claimed and all he took was the old family Bible. 

That Logan was a potent factor in our national life there can be 
no question ; that his death has left a vacancy not easily filled, is 
without dispute : that his departure has changed the political direc- 
tion of his country for the next decade, perhaps for the next quarter 
of a century, seems probable. 

Standing here in the presence of the Almighty, and in the shadow 
of a great sorrow, let us leave eulogy to the fellow-Senators of the 
honored dead, and content ourselves with adducing those great les- 
sons from Logan's life and character which should make us truer 
citizens and purer Christians. 



6 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

Macaulay has said that " Men eminent in learning, in statesman- 
slap, in war, are not fully appreciated by their contemporaries ; but 
posterity does not fail to award them full justice." A greater than 
Macaulay has said : " A prophet is not without honor save in his 
, iwn country." It is difficult for those who have not had the special 
advantages of the schools in early life to gain a reputation for men- 
tal culture and intellectual attainments; but it is sufficient to say, 
that whatever position Logan occupied, he was always in the front. 
If a strong reason, a sound judgment, a capacious and retentive 
memory, a vigorous and warm imagination, and a comprehensive 
understanding are essential to high intellectuality, then Logan 
ranks among our foremost men. Others are great in scientific at- 
tainments, in the polish of literature, in the acquisition of languages ; 
but wlio excelled him in the useful information of science, and liter- 
ature, and law; in knowledge of his country, its history, its resources, 
its wants, its possibilities, its hopes ? 

Let his vast and well-chosen library, rich in all learning, proclaim 
his love for books. Like Webstek, he had the rare faculty to extract 
by instinct the pith of a volume that came to his hand. Intellect- 
ually, his rivals underestimated him, his friends never fully appre- 
ciated him, his admirers never overvalued him. He was a prodig- 
ious brain-worker, indefatigable in application, tireless in energy. 
He called upon all sources of knowledge to aid him in his purpose. 
His was a life of intellectual activity. From his admission to the 
bar, at the age of twenty -five, to his place in his State legislature, 
to his place in Congress, and to his position as Senator, he has left 
the impress of his intellect upon the legislation of this country 
which enters into its history for the last twenty-five years. What 
-ieat measure of Congress is without his honored name ? Future 
generations will read his utterances with wonder and admiration. 
His great speeches on the "Impeachment," on "Education," on 
"The Army," his eulogy on •■Thomas." his defense of "Grant," his 
arraignment of ••Porter," will be esteemed masterful among foren- 
sic efforts. In all his legislative life he was never crushed in debate. 
Some men have the Bower of language; Logajs had the dower of 

thought. He had the eloquence of logic, and could raise metaphor 

into argument. Be resembled not so much the beautiful river whose 
broad stream winds through rich and varied scenery, hut that which 
cutsadeep and rapid channel through rugged rocks and frowning 
wilds, lea\ Lng the impress of its power in the productiveness of the 



Funeral Services. 7 

region through which it passes, which, but for it, would remain des- 
olate and barren. His was not the music of the organ, with its 
varied stops and mingling harm. >nies, but rather the sound of the 
trumpet, waxing louder and louder, piercing the caverns of the earth 
and resounding through the encircling heavens. 

It is a venerable saying of Scripture, that the "Day of a man's 
death is better than the day of his birth." . When in the stillness of 
the holy Sabbath his noble soul left our presence, Logan was the 
foremost statesmanof the mighty West, And hereafter and forever 
Illinois will have her illustrious trinity of national greatness— Lin- 
coln, greatest of statesmen: Grant, greatest of professional soldiers ; 
Logan, the greatest volunteer General produced by this country. 

But wherein consists that strange charm of his personality, that 
falls upon our spirits to-day like a holy enchantment? Whence the 
magic spell of his presence? Whence the secret of the power < »f that 
one life upon fifty millions of people? Is it sufficient to say that his 
parentage was honorable, that his intellect was rich in its acquired 
treasures, that he was the foremost statesman of the West? Is it 
sufficient to say that he was a great, soldier who proved himself equal 
to every command, that he was never defeated, that he defeated de- 
feat, and achieved victory when all seemed lost, that from Belmont 
to Atlanta, and from Savannah to Washington, when, at the head of 
the victorious Army of the Tennessee, he marched through the 
avenues of the Capital of a redeemed covmtry, he gave evidence of his 
martial prowess? 

We must look deeper and search with keener insight for the secret 
of his immense power over his countrymen. His was a changeless 
sincerity. He was never in masquerade. He was transparent to a 
fault, He had a window in his heart. He was never in disguise. 
He was as you saw him. Never did geometrician bring proposition 
and demonstration in closer proximity than was the correspond- 
ence between Logan's character and his appearance. He was 
Logan every time. His was the soul of honor. He had an innate 
contempt for everything low. mean, intriguing. He was an open and 
an honorable foe. He had a triple courage, which imparted to him 
immense strength. His physical bravery knew no fear. His moral 
heroism was sublime. But above these was the courage of his intel- 
lect. Si >me men have brave souls in cowardly bodies. The cheek of 
Others is never blanched by physical danger. But few rise to the 



8 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

highest form of courage. Logan never committed treason against 
his intellect. He thought for himself, and spoke what he thought. 
He was loyal to his own conclusions. Friendship could not deter 
him, enemies could not make him afraid. A great name could not 
daunt him. He had more caution than was accorded to him, but it 
was the caution of intellectual courage. 

He was the soul of honesty. He lived in times of great corruption, 
when the strongest men of both parties fell, either blasted by public 
exposure or by ignorant denunciation. But Logan was untouched. 
He was above suspicion. The smell of fire was not on his garments. 
Others made fortunes out of the blood of their countrymen, but after 
five years in war and twenty-five years in Congressional life, Logan 
was poor in purse, but rich in a good name. To his only son, who 
bears the image and name of his honored father, he could have left 
ill-gotten fortunes, but he left him that which is far above rubies. 
Like Aristides, Logan could say, "These hands are clean." 

He had a self-abnegat i< »n which asked no other reward than the con- 
sciousness of duty done. Loyalty to duty was his standard of man- 
hood. When another was appointed to the command which his 
merits and victories entitled him to have, he did not sulk in his tent 
of disappointment, but fought on for the cause which was dearer than 
promotion. When duty demanded the exposure of corruption in his 
own party, he preferred his country to partisan ties. When he was 
convinced that a distinguished officer was unworthy a nation's con- 
fidence, he did not hesitate to incur the displeasure of friends and the 
denunciation of enemies. 

When in L862 his friends in Illinois urged him to leave the Army 

and re-enter Congress, he made this reply : 

No, I am to-day a si tidier of this Republic — so to remain . changeless and immutable, 
until her last and weakest enemy shall have expired and passed away. 1 have en- 
tered the field to die, if need be, for this Government, and never expect to return 
to peaceful pursuits until the object of this war of preservation has become a fact 
established. Should fate so ordain it. I will esteem it as the highest privilege a 
just Dispenser ran award to shed the last drop of blood in my veins for the honor 
of that flag whose emblems are justice, liberty, and truth, and which has been and. 
as I humbly trust in God. ever will be for the right. 

Oh! brave and unselfish soul! how thou basl been misunderstood, 
misjudged, misrepresented, defamed, and wronged by those who. 
to-day, are the beneficiaries of thy noble life! These defamations 
wounded his proud and sensitive spirit. 

There were limes when his ardent temperament mastered his self- 



Funeral Services. 9 

control. If he seemed to take affront when assailed in debate, it 
was for the cause he represented and not from personal pride. 
He was a sensitive, high-spirited, chivalric soul. He had pride 
of character, and power of passion. He knew his power, but he 
was a stranger to vanity. His passionate nature was intense. 
His emotional being resembled the ocean. The passions of love, 
joy. hope, desire, grief, hatred, and anger were strong to him. He 
,■, ,'uld love like a woman, sport like a child, hope like a saint. His 
grief was intense, his hatred inveterate. His anger burned like a 
mountain on fire. He reminds us of the great reformer, Luther, who 
alternated between profound calms and furious storms. His calms 
were like embowered lakes, their placid bosoms mirroring the over- 
hanging foliage of the grassy banks. His agitations were like 
mountain torrents, leaping, dashing, thundering down their rugged 
courses, sweeping all before them. When composed, the ocean of 
his emotions was so placid that a little child might sail its fragile 
boat thereon; but when agitated, the great deep was troubled, the 
heavens scowled, thunder answered thunder, ethereal fires gleamed 
and burned, wave mounted wave, and whole armaments were scat- 
tered before the fury of the storm. This is the key to the warmth 
of his friendship and the bitterness of his enmity. 

He had an honorable ambition, but it was above corruption and 
intrigue. In his manliness he did not hesitate to proclaim his de- 
sire m.r disguise his noble aspirations. From his very nature he 
became the soldier's friend. It was his tenderness of heart that 
made him the friend of every soldier in the war. In "these piping 
times of peace" we forget those who fought for us. Not so with 
Logan. He carried the years of the war through each receding dec- 
ade and lived among its stirring memories. He maintained close 
relations with the veterans. Thrice he was elected commander-in- 
chief of the Grand Army of the Republic. As chairman of the 
Committee on Military Affairs he was in a position of power. To- 
day the three hundred and fifty thousand veterans in the Grand 
Army of the Republic, from six thousand posts, feel that they have 
lost a friend. To-day the six hundred and twenty-two thousand 
pensioners bless his memory. To-day two hundred and thirty thou- 
sand widows and orphans breathe a prayer to Heaven for the peace 
of his soul. And now the spirits of three hundred and fifty thou- 
sand patriot soldiers, slain in the war, gather around the great soul 



10 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

of Logan and thank him that on each returning 30th of May their 
graves are not forgotten, but are covered with flowers. The desig- 
nation of that day for memorial service was suggested by Logan, 
and he was wont to say : " It was the proudest act of my life." And 
could the three hundred and fifty thousand patriotic dead rise from 
their graves, each with a memorial flower in his hand, there would 
rise a floral mountain to the skies, the perfume of which would 
ascend in gratitude to the God of battles. Logan deserves such a 
mountain of flowers. He himself is a martyr of liberty. Let me 
show those five scars of the wounds he received in battle for the 

love of his country. 

Would you know him in his happier estate of gentleness, tender- 
ness, and affection, as husband and father, go to his home, where 
purity, peace, and love reigned supreme. There his inner life was 
displayed without restraint. There was his retreat from the vexa- 
tious cares of public life. There was wedded love of thirty-one 
happy years. She of his youthful pride and choice was his supreme 
and constant delight. He was her tower of strength; she was the 
joy of his soul. He was her honorable pride; she the confidant of 
his secret thoughts. He was faithful to his bridal vows: she recip- 
rocated his undivided love. Such a home was the dream of his life. 
Upon the western hills that overlook our national capital he found 
that sweet, sweet home, where he had hoped to spend yet many a 
happy year, and with Goldsmith sing: 

In all my wanderings round this world of care, 

In all my griefs, and God has given me my share, 

I still had hopes my latest hours to crown. 

Amid these humble bowers to lay me down. 

To husband out life's taper to its close. 

And keep the flame from wasting by repose. 

Around my lire an evening group to draw, 
And tell of all I felt and all I saw. 
And. as a bar.' whom hounds and horns pursue, 
PailtS to tli,' place from whence at first he tlew. 

I still had hopes, my long vacations past. 
I [ere to return, and die at home at last. 

But, 

No more for him the blazing hearth shall burn. 
Nor busy housewife ply her evening rare. 
Nor children lisp a sire's return. 
Nor climb his knee the envied kiss to share. 

It is not possible for us to suppose for a moment thai a Life SO 
magnanimous and unselfish, and so beautiful in its domesticity, 



Funeral Services. H 

should be without the element of religion. Bluff, sturdy, honest, 
Logan was a Christian in faith and practice. Here is his Bible, 
which he read with daily care. Sincere and humble, he accepted 
Christ as his personal Saviour. When I gave him the sacrament of 
the Lord's Supper, too humble in spirit to kneel on the cushion 
around the altar, he knelt on the carpet, and, with his precious 
wife by his side, received the tokens of a Saviour's love. His manly 
brow shone like polished marble, for he felt that he was in the 
presence of the Searcher of all hearts. It was his last sacrament on 
earth. Let us hope that he will have a eucharist in the skies. 

Standing by the tomb of Grant on last Memorial Day, Logan de- 
livered an oration on immortality. He called upon the sphinxes 
and the pyramids of Egypt, upon the palaces of Sennacherib and 
Nebuchadnezzar, upon the philosophers of Attica and the Cam- 
pagna, upon the mystic worshipers of the Druids and the pictorial 
monuments of the Mexicans, upon the poets and orators of the 
world, to witness that '•hope springs immortal in the human breast," 
and demanded of them, "Why this longing after immortality:''" 
And. rising above all these in glory and authority, he turned to the 
Divine Prophet of Nazareth, and from His blessed lips received the 
sweet assurance: "Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in 
(bid, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions ; 
I go to prepare a place for you." 

Logan has entered into the fruition of his immortality. He has 
answered the morning call of eternal life. He has translated his 
oration into a deathless experience. He has heard the Master say : 
" It is enough ; come up higher." 

At the conclusion of the sermon Rev. Dr. Newman pronounced 
the benediction. 

Immediately following the funeral exercises in the Senate the pro- 
cession which was to convey the remains to the Hutchinson vault 
at Rock Creek Cemetery, selected as a temporary resting place for 
the dead Senator, was formed by Sergeant-at-Arms William P. 
Caxaday. the honorary pall-bearers first, and followed by the active 
pull-bearers with the casket. Then Mrs. Logan, family and rela- 
tives, the Congressional committee, Justices of the Supreme Court, 
Senators and Representatives and officers and employe's of Congress 
followed in the order named. 



12 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

The procession marched down the north side of the Capitol and 

formed in the following order : 

Lieutenant-General P. H. Sheridan, marshal; chief of staff, Brevet Brig. Gen. 
Albert Oedway, United States Volunteers, headed the line : platoon of mounted 
police : aids-de-camp. Lieut. Col. M. V. Sheridan. U. S. A. : Lieut. Col. Sanford 
C. Kellogg, U. S. A. ; Lieut. Col. Stanhope K. Blunt, U. S. A. ; Brevet Major 
Emmett Urell, U. S. V. ; carriage containing Dr. Newman. 

FIRST DIVISION. 

Division of Marine Band : battalion of U. S. Marine Corps, with arms reversed : 
battalion of Third U. S. Artillery, Col H. G. Gibson ; Light Battery C. Third U. 
S. Artillery, Capt. J. G. Turnbull. 

second division. 

Division of Marine Band ; detachment of United States seamen from United 
States Steamer Albatross, Lieut. Commander W. W. Rhoades : District militia ; 
Union Veteran Corps ; Wilson Post, of Baltimore ; Grand Army of the Republic : 
colored veterans. 

THIRD DIVISION. 

Detail of ten Capitol police, commanded by Captain Allabaugh : G. A. R. guard 
of honor ; hearse, drawn by four black horses ; G. A. R. guard of honor : carriages, 
two abreast, containing Sergeant-at-Arms Canaday, Deputy Sergeant-at-Arms 
Christie, Senate and House committees of arrangements, family of General Logan, 
Senators, Representatives, officers of the Army and Navy, committee Mexican 
war veterans, committee Military Order Loyal Legion, committee Grand Army of 
the Republic, committee Army of the Tennessee, and citizens of Illinois. The 
rear was brought up by 500 clerks of the Pension Office. 

An immense throng of people lined the walks on both sides of the 
street as the procession proceeded on its way to the cemetery. 

Just before reaching the cemetery several hundred old soldiers 
from the Soldiers' Home were formed in line with uncovered heads 
to pay their last tribute of respect to their dead hero and com- 
mander. 

The procession moved on to the vault selected as a temporary rest- 
ing place. Here representatives of the military and artillery of the 
Regular Army, the Grand Army of the Republic, in uniform, civic 
organizations, and hundreds of people were assembled. 

General W. T. Sherman with orderly, General P. H. Sheridan 
and staff, and General Albert Ordway took up a position in front 

of the tomb. 

While the casket was being removed from t lie bearse to the vault 
the Marine Band rendered " Nearer, my God. to Thee." The widow 
and children of the illustrious Senator remained in carriages imme- 
diately in front of the tomb. Standing near the head of the casket 



Funeral Services. 13 

Department Chaplain Swallow read the burial service of the Grand 
Army of the Republic. Surrounding the casket stood members of 
the Cabinet, Senators and Representatives, Army officers, and old 
veterans of the war. who listened attentively to the beautiful burial 
service of the Nation's defenders. 

The Rev. Dr. Newman then impressively repeated the Lord's 
Prayer. A trumpeter of the Regular Army then, standing at the 
entrance to the tomb, raised the instrument to his lips and broke the 
solemn silence with the last farewell "taps" (lights out) — a brave 
soldier's rest. And thus all that remained of the once fearless, 
patriotic soldier; the incorruptible, high-minded, honorable states- 
man; the loving, affectionate, devoted husband and father, was laid 
away to rest among those who had gone " before." 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. 

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1887. 



PRAYER. 



Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, 
according to His abundant mercy, hath begotten in us a living hope 
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance 
incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. 

Let the words of our lips and the meditation of our hearts be 
acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. 
And as we turn away from the open grave with sympathizing hearts 
may we ever be filled with the spirit of Him who is touched with 
the feeling of our infirmities, the great Redeemer, the conqueror 
of death, who liveth and reigneth forever. 

Inspire us, we pray Thee, with courage and with faith, as from 
day to day we meet the responsibilities and trials and temptations 
incident to this mortal life. Fill us ever with Thy Good Spirit, sanc- 
tifying Thy providences, comforting those who are in sorrow, O Thou 
judge of the widow and Thou father of the fatherless ones, enabling 
us to meet the duties of each day with courage, with fortitude, with 
faith, and with patience, so serving our generation that when we 
shall fall asleep we may enter upon the everlasting rest. Blot out 
all our transgressions, and grant us grace and peace. Our Father, 
who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come, Thy 
will be done upon earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our 
daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who 
trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us 
from evil; for Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for 

ever and ever. Amen. 

(15) 



16 



Life and Character of John A. Logan. 



DEATH OF SENATOR LOGAN. 

Mr. Cullom. Mr. President, I ask leave to introduce resolu- 
tions at this time. 

The President pro tempore. The Senator from Illinois pre- 
sents resolutions, which will be read. 

The Chief Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved by the Senate, That as an additional mark of respect to the memory of 
John A. Logan, long a Senator from the State of Illinois, and a distinguished mem- 
ber of this body, business be now suspended, that the friends and associates of the 
deceased may pay fitting tribute to his public and private virtues. 

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate be directed to communicate these res- 
olutions to the House of Representatives and to furnish an engrossed copy of the 
same to the family of the deceased Senator. 



Address of Mr. CULLOM, of Illinois. 

Mr. President : For the third time within a year we are called 
upon to raise our voices reverently in speaking of our dead. For 
the third time within a yeardeathhas laid his icy finger on a brother 
Senator and beckoned him to the unknown realms of eternity. 

To-day we lay our tribute of love upon the tomb of Logan. 

Suffering from a sense of personal loss too deep to find expression, 
I despair of being able to render adequate praise to his memory. 

But yesterday, as it seems, he stood among us here in the full flush 
of robust manhood. A giant in strength and endurance, with a will 
of iron, and a constitution tough as the sturdy oak, he seemed to 
hold within his grasp more than the three score years and ten alloted 
to man. No one thought in the same moment of Logan and death — 
two conquerors who should come face to face, and the weaker yield 
to the stronger. It seemed as if Logan could not die. Yet, in a 
moment, almost in the twinkling of an eye, " God's finger touched 
him, and he slept." 

Almost without warning he passed from strength to weakness; to 
death and decay, from life pulsating with vigor to dare and to do. 
The physiciaifs skill, the loving, agonized, devotion of those mosl 
dear, his own invincible will, were alike powerless to resist the ap- 
proach of the grim destroyer who stole upon him "as a thief in the 
night," and lias given us another striking warning of the fact that 
"No king noi- nation one moment can retard the appointed hour." 



Address of Mr. Cullom, of Illinois. 17 

John Alexander Logan was burn on a farm located in what is 
now the town of Murphysborough, in Jackson County, Illinois, on 
February 9, 1820. Had he lived until to-day, sixty-one years— event- 
ful, glorious years— would have rested their burden as a crown upon 
his head. Life is a crucible into which we are thrown to be tried. 
How many but prove the presence of all< »y so base that refining ' ' seven 
times" can not purify. But here was a life generous and noble, an 
open book from which friend and foe alike might read the character 
of the man. 

General Logan was the eldest of a family of eleven children. His 
father. Dr. John Logan, was born in the north of Ireland of Scotch 
ancestry, and came to this country early in this century. He first 
settled in Maryland and then in Missouri, afterward moving to Illi- 
nois and locating in Jackson County. There he met and married 
Miss Elizabeth Jenkins, who was a native of North Carolina, but 
came of a Scotch family. Dr. Logan was a man of marked charac- 
teristics, and a physician and surgeon of unusual skill. 

He was noted for his integrity, his sturdy independence of charac- 
ter, his devotion to his friends, and his recognition of the equality 
of all men who were honest and upright, without regard to their so- 
cial position. His wife was a woman of determined courage, strong 
in her prejudices, who never swerved from the path she had once 
marked out for herself. The characteristics of the father and mother 
were conspicuously combined in the son, who owed his success in 
life largely to the possession of the traits most prominent in the 
character of both his father and his mother. 

The professional services of Dr. Logan were in such demand that 
he had little time to devote to the care of his farm or the education 
of his children, but he was an educated and studious man, and gave 
his children the best educational facilities he could command. In 
those days money and schools were scarce in that new country, and 
the education of the youth was not considered so essential as it is 
to-day, but Dr. Logan managed to secure the services of a tutor who 
resided in the family and trained the children in the branches not 
taught in the schools of that day. including the rudiments of Greek 
and Latin. While young Logan failed to receive such a classical 
training as a regular college course gives, he was eager and quick 
to learn, and made the most of his opportunities. 

Reared upon a farm under such circumstances, his character was 
H 



18 Life and Character of John A. Lixjan. 

unconsciously molded and formed by surroundings similar to those 
which gave to Lincoln that strength and steadfastness which served 
him so well in later years. The men with whom young Logan came 
in contact during his boyhood were generally without the refinements 
of life, but they were rugged, sturdy, and self-reliant, of powerful 
physique and healthy intellects. His association with these vigorous, 
hardy pioneers of civilization imbued the young man with uncon- 
querable energy, indomitable will, and a stern sense of honor which, 
through his manhood to the end of his life, made him a master spirit 
among men. 

At the age of sixteen he was sent to Shiloh College, and subse- 
quently added to the education obtained there whatever he could 
glean from the books within his reach. When barely of age he 
made his entrance into manhood upon the field of battle. 

When the Mexican war broke out young Logan plunged into it 
with all the fire and enthusiasm of his nature, enlisting in the First 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Though then but twenty years of age, 
he served with distinction, and by the end of the war had become 
quartermaster of his regiment. This beginning of his career might 
have been to him an omen of future fame to be won on fields of 
blood. On returning home he was received as a student in the law 
office of Alexander M. Jenkins, his mother's brother, but, being an 
ardent admirer of Stephen A. Douglas. Logan soon became fasci- 
nated with political life, and in less than a year was elected clerk of 
Jacksun County. 

In 1850 he became a student in the law department <>f Louisville 
University, graduating in the spring of L851, and entering upon the 
practice of law at Murphysborough in partnership with his uncle. 
In 1852 he was elected to the State legislature, and soon afterwards to 
the office of prosecuting attorney for the judicial district in which 
he resided. In this position he was called upon to prosecute some 
remarkable criminal cases, and it is a notable fact that la- secured a 

conviction in all the cases which he prosecuted and tried. 

On the 27th of November, L855, he was married to Miss .Mary S. 
Cunningham, a daughter of Capt. J. M. Cunningham, and estab- 
lished his home and law office in Benton, in the adjoining county of 
Franklin. In L856 he was again elected to the State legislature; 
and it was during the session of L857 that it became my privilege to 
become acquainted with this remarkable man, who at that time 
demonstrated his power as a leader. 



Address of Mr. C idiom, of Illinois. 19 

In 1858 Mr. Logan was elected to represent his district in Con- 
gress, and from the time he took his seat in the House of Repre- 
sentatives his rise was rapid and his public career became known to 
the country. 

He had not been cradled in luxury. Fortune had not been espe- 
cially kind to him, but he had been bred honest to the core, was in- 
capable of meanness, and among the strong men of that Congress 
the young, resolute, courageous representative from Illinois held 
his own. He was again elected to Congress in 18G0, when Abraham 
Lincoln was elected President. Logan was elected as a Douglas 
Democrat, and had advocated the election of Douglas to the Presi- 
dency with all his power before the people. When Lincoln was 
elected and mutterings of rebellion and whisperings of secession 
were heard, the fire of patriotism began to burn in his breast, and 
on the floor of the House of Representatives, on the 5th of February, 
1861, before the inauguration of President Lincoln, he defined his 
position upon the burning question of the hour in the following un- 
mistakable terms : 

I have been taught — 

He said — 

that the preservation of this glorious Union, with its broad flag waving over us as 
the shield of our protection on land and sea, is paramount to all parties and plat- 
forms that ever have existed or ever can exist. I would to-day, if I had the power, 
sink my own party and every other one. with all their platforms, into the vortex 
of ruin, without heaving a sigh or shedding a tear, to save the Union, or even to 
stay the revolution where it is. 

What a declaration of unselfish patriotism ! Placing party and 
platforms under his feet, he was first of all for the Union and the 
flag, which were dearer than all else to him. With the flash of the 
first gun which thundered its doom upon Sumter he was up and in 
arms. Consecrating all the energy of his ardent nature to the cause 
of the Union, he left his seat in Congress, saying lie could best serve 
his country in the field. Falling into the ranks of the Union Army he 
took his part as a civilian volunteer in the first battle of Bull Run. 

To describe the part he took in the late war after he raised the 
Thirty-first Illinois Regiment and took the field would be to recite 
the history of the war itself — a story impressed as in letters of fire 
upi m the memory of the American people. The record of his bravery 
at Belmont ; of his gallant charge at Fort Donelson. where, as a 
colonel, he was dangerously wounded; of his service as major- 



20 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

general commanding the Army of the Tennessee ; of the memorable 
siege of Vicksburg, when, with the great leader of the Union armies. 
he stood knocking at the door of that invincible stronghold : of his 
service with the gallant Sherman in his famous "march to the 
sea"— all are written on the pages of history to lend undying luster 
to the name of Logan. 

It is said that poets are born, not made. So it may be truly said 
that General Logan was a natural soldier. Every instinct within 
him was inspired with fervid love of his country. His figure was 
massive, his shoulders broad, his presence commanding ; with his 
swarthy face and coal-black hair, and "eye like Mars to threaten or 
command," he was every inch a warrior. The soldiers of the late 
war believed in him as a leader in the field, and those of that great 
Union Army who survive him mourn his loss to-day as their nearest, 
most earnest, ablest, and most devoted friend. 

During the war General Logan rose by regular promotion through 
every grade from colonel to the highest rank, save that of lieutenant- 
general, that the nation could bestow in recognition of his bravery 
and great capacity as an officer. How appropriately the words 
which, on April G, 1870, he pronounced in eulogy of that other great 
soldier, General George H. Thomas, can now be applied to himself. 
( )n that occasion General Logan said of General Thomas, as we can 
now say of him : 

He has gone. Grief sits visibly on every soldier's brow and pervades every loyal 
heart of the nation. His noble form lies low, ready to be committed to its kindred 
dust. Earth never received into her bosom a manlier form or a nobler breast. The 
halo of his deeds and brilliancy of his achievements may almost be said to illumi- 
nate the grave into which his body descends, and the fragrance of his acts of kind- 
ness perfumes his sepulcher. He has gone from "our sight, but not from our hearts 
and our memory ; he must live on, embalmed by our love and garlanded with our 
affection, his name growing brighter and brighter as time rolls on. The cold 
marble bears in mockery a name forgotten but for the letters chiseled on the icy 
slab. It can not be so witli the name of General George Henry Thomas, which is 
chiseled on the tablets of too many hearts to need the aid of marble or bronze to 
perpetuate it. 

Is it enough to say of General Logan that he was the greatest vol- 
unteer general of the Union Army ? By no means. A quarter of a 
century and more has passed since that terrible struggle, and civil 
honors were won by him during that period as rapidly as military 
ones were won during the war. When gentle peace, which " hath 
her victories no less renown'd than those of war," returned, he was 



Address of Mr. Cullom, of Illinois. 21 

at once called to again take his place in the councils of the nation. 
Twice elected to the House of Representatives since the war and 
three times chosen by the legislature of his State to represent it in 
the Senate, it may he truly said that General Logan spent his life 
in the active service of his country. He was a man of high honor 
and singular boldness and frankness of character. He made no con- 
cealments. He always fought openly and above board. His integ- 
rity was beyond the whisper of suspicion. 

He was aggressive and impulsive with the courage of his convic- 
tions. Eager to do, tireless in effort, persistent in purpose, by his 
indomitable will be made each obstacle in his path a stepping-stone 
to greater things. The more he was antagonized the stronger he 
became, and, as in battle, he pushed on until his enemies gave way 
and left him master of the situation. Goethe has said that ' ' he who 
is firm in will molds the world to himself"; and so it could be said 
of Logan, who had become recognized as one of the most prominent 
factors in national affairs. 

As a Senator he devoted himself steadfastly to the duties which 
crowd a Senatorial life, never turning a deaf ear to the appeals of 
his constituents, or from whatever quarter of the country they came. 
He was a ready speaker, full of energy and forceful in manner, and 
when aroused by debate and the importance of the subject he would 
pour forth thoughts that breathe and words that burn into the ears 

of his hearers. 

Many passages may be selected from General Logan's writings 
and addresses which exhibit his ardent patriotism and love tor the 
Union. In a letter to his friend, General Hayuie. a gallant Union 
soldier, on December 31, 1801, he said : 

I am for the Union, and for maintaining it, if such a thing is possible, and am 
uncompromisingly opposed to any man or set of men that countenance disunion 
with its horrible consequences. There is no sacrifice I would not make for it. I 
have no opinions that I am so wedded to that I would not modify them m any way, 
consistent with the honor of my constituents and myself, to give peace to the country. 

Again he said, in an address to the people of Chicago on August 
10, 18G3, while fresh from the field of battle : 

I do not propose to discuss party politics or questions with a riew to the advance- 
ment of any party organization, hut desire only to speak to you with reference to 
the troubles that now environ the country and threaten the perpetuity of the Gov- 
ernment, * * * In this war I know no party. * * * Although I have always 
been a Democrat, and cherish the doctrines of that old and honored party, yet in 
this contest I was for any man. let him belong to whatever party he might, who 
was for bis country. 



22 Life aiid Character of John A. Logan. 

Being criticised f < >r 1 icing an Abolitionist. General Logan said : 

If it makes a man an Abolitionist to love his country, then I love my country, 
and am willing to live for it and willing to die for it. 

General Logan's devotion to his country was the moving impulse 

of his heart, and he was willing, from the hour in which he saw the 

danger threatening the perpetuity of the Union, to give his life to 

save it. When the war was over and the integrity of the Union had 

been maintained, when he had laid aside his victorious sword, he 

used the following language in a speech at Louisville, Ky. , on July 

21. 1865 : 

Peace has come at last. * * * The dark clouds of war that have been piling 
in terrific grandeur along the southern horizon for four long years, and ever and 
anon bursting with fatal and fearful fury upon the land, have at last, heaven be 
praised, rolled away. " The trumpet clangor and the cannon's roar resound no 
longer from embattled plains." God grant that they never may again ; that it may 
be as literally true of the soldiers who survive as it is bound to be of those who 
" sleep their sleep " that they have all " fought their last battle." 

Like his great and true friend. General Grant, while General 
LOGAN was a great soldier, he did not love war, but with a heart full 
of human sympathy he loved peace and preferred her victories to 
those of war. Logan had a tender and sympathetic nature. His 
heart was full of sorrow for the sick, the wounded, and the dying 
soldiers who were constantly around him He regarded the institu- 
tion of slavery as the cause of the war and all its attendant distress, 
and in the address at Louisville already referred to he used these 
graphic words : 

Oh. that I had the power to bring together all the slaveholders of the land, and 
have them look on in solemn silence while the cripples, the widows, and orphans 
that have been made by this war could pass before them in grand review and tell 
their tales of misery and woe that slavery has brought upon them. Were their 
hearts not made of stone they would melt while gazing at such a scene, and with 
one voice they must cry out : " Let the land be at once rid of the curse that has 
caused such a dreadful scene as this." 

General Logan's earnest feeling in regard to those who fought to 
preserve tli.- Union are illustrated by a statement made in a speech in 
the otherwing of this Capitol in L867, when, in speaking on the subject 
of the reconstruction of the States that had been in rebellion, he said: 

God forbid that the day shall ever dawn upon this Republic when the patriots 
whose patriotism won them crutches and wooden limbs shall have apologies and 
explanations to make for their public conduct! 

Mr. President, 1 make these few quotations from the many strik- 
ing passages thai illuminate General Logan's addresses in Congress 



Address of Mr. Cullom, of Illinois. 23 

and to the people to show how earnest and undivided was his devo- 
tion to his country, his love for his companions in arms, and Ins op- 
position to slavery as the cause of the war. 

General Logan was the idol of the volunteer soldiers of the late 
war and since the war closed no man in the nation has been so uni- 
versally recognized by them as a friend upon whom they could con- 
fidently rely for help as he was. His heart went out to them and 
theirs to him. On one occasion he said : 

My consent can never be commanded to ignore the claims that I feel the gallant 
dead who fell lighting under our flag have upon my devotxon to the* fame wlnle 
I live. 

The death of no man since the war has been so sorrowfully 
mourned by the volunteer soldiery of the Union as has been the 
death of General Logan. The soldier of that grand army mourns 
his loss to-day as " one who will not be comforted." 

You will call to mind. Mr. President, General Logan's speeches 
on education, on the needs of the Army, his defense of General 
Grant and his arraignment of General Fitz John Porter. These 
constitute an important part of the records of Senatorial debates, and 
should be classed among the ablest and most exhaustive speeches 
ever made in the Senate. As a political leader General Logan was 
conspicuously successful. 

He was naturally in the front rank, whether on the field of battle 
or in political contests. Living in an era when corruption was not 
uncommon, when strong men of both parties sometimes stood aghast 
and saw their reputations blasted by public exposure, he remained 
throughout his long public career above suspicion. Wealth could 
not tempt him to soil his spotless name. He never used the oppor- 
tunities of his official position as a means of obtaining gold. He died 
as he had lived, a poor man. 

Throughout his long and conspicuous public career he came many 
times before the people, but there never was a ghost of dishonor in 
his past to rise up and cry upon him shame. May his children " re- 
joice and be glad" in the example of a father of whom the whole 
nation could rise up and say. •'There was an honest man." 

But let us not indulge in adulation. General Logan was not a per- 
fect man. Faults had he. "child of Adam's stem." but they were 
small, and served by comparison but to enhance his virtues. His 
prejudices were sometimes narrow, but he was never a hypocrite. 



24 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

He never professed to be what he was not. He sometimes erred, for 
he was possessed of like passions with other men. He sometimes 
alienated a friend, as every strong, independent man must in the 
course of a public career. He had his bitter enemies, but, in the 
words of a revered and venerable friend of General Logan's. ex- 
Senator Simon Cameron, " a man who makes no enemies is never a 
positive force.'' Logan was a positive force. He took his position 
on questions as they came up, and was always ready to defend it with 
all his power. 

Mr. President, few men in American history have left so positive 
an impress on the public mind and so glorious a record to be known 
and read < if all men as has General Logan. The pen of the historian 
cannot fail to write the name of Logan as one prominently identified 
with the great movements and measures which have saved the Union 
and made the nation free and great and glorious within the last thirty 
years. 

Like Lincoln, his heart and hand were ever for the people. He 
came up from the ranks of the people, believed in the purity and in- 
tegrity of the masses, and was always ready and eager to speak fi ir 
them. He was a true republican and believed firmly in republican 
government. He despised tyranny in all its forms wherever he found 
it. He was always true to his convictions and to his friends, and no 
power or influence could induce him to forsake either. 

His sturdy character has been so often demonstrated upon this 
floor and in his work and in his powerful speeches in every part i >f 
the country, always showing his most earnest devotion to the Union, 
his never flagging zeal in behalf of his comrades-in-arms, his love of 
liberty and human equality, his belief in universal education as in 
the interest of the happiness of the people and of the perpetuity of 
republican government, his adherence at all times to his convictions 
of duty, his unfaltering determination to stand by his friends— that 
it seems needless for me to dwell upon it longer. 

In his remarks in this Senate upon an occasion similar to this, in 
speaking of a once distinguished member of this body, the lamented 
Chandler, General Logan used the following language: 

Tis true the grave in its silence gives forth no voice nor whispers of the morrow, 
but there is a voire borne upon the lips of the morning zephyrs that lets falls 
whisper, quickening the heart with a knowledge that there i- an abode beyond the 
tomb. sir. (.nr lamps are burning now, some more brightly than others; some 
shed their light from the mountain's top, others from the lowly vales; hut lit us 



Address of Mr. Cullom, of Illinois. 25 

so trim them that they may all burn with equal brilliancy when relighted in our 
mansions beyond the mysterious river. 
I fondly hope, sir, that there we will again meet our departed friend. 

Mr. President, lie who uttered those tender words, thus giving ex- 
pression to his faith in the hereafter and to his love of his departed 
friend, has gone to join him in the mansions beyond the mysterious 
river, may we not trust in that better land where there is no more 
pain nor suffering nor sorrow, but in the mansions of eternal bliss. 

As time ] .asses and the men who did the most in the late terrible 
civil war pass rapidly away one by one we have the consolation of 
knowing- that they leave to us a united country, with the Union of 
the States restored and liberty secured to all the people, to be trans- 
mitted by us to those who come after as a glorious inheritance. 

Death is a good Samaritan, throwing the mantle of charity over 
the faults of men, burying in oblivion the sins of the flesh, and bid- 
ding their good deeds "live after them." 

And now we stand as at an open grave to savour last farewell. 
Here was a man who could ill be spared to country, friends, or home. 
'•Our life is scarce the twinkling of a star in God's eternal day." yet 
we bow in resignation to the Divine decree when the summons comes 
to one weary with the burden of years and with labors ended. But 
to see the darkness fall at noon-time, the sun go down while we look 
for a brighter day. is a mystery of Providence too deep for human 
comprehension. 

When death claims the strong and great, those to whom we look 
for help and strength, we ask, why. why was he taken, and cannot 
understand the dealings of an Infinite Wisdom. As the autumn 
leaves drop and enrich the soil, so are the great men of our nation 
falling by the way. leaving a golden heritage of honored names and 
fame to generations yet unborn. 

Our friend and brother has crossed to the other shore to join the 
immortal throng. He lias left a desolate hearthstone, a loved com- 
panion, prostrate in her grief, refusing to be comforted. His con- 
flicts are over. He is at peace '-where the wicked cease from troub- 
ling and the weary are at rest." 

In halls of state lie stood for many years. 
Like fabled knight, his visage all aglow! 
Receiving, giving sternly, blew for blew! 
Champion of right! But from eternity's far shore 
Thy spirit will return to join the strife no more. 
Rest, soldier-statesman, rest : thy troubled life is o'er. 



26 Life and Chun icier of Joint A. Logan. 



Address of Mr. Morgan, of Alabama. 

Mr. President: This is not an unmeaning ceremonial. The Senate 
has not paused in its great labors and arrested its important service 
to the people of the United States for the purpose merely of indulg- 
ing in passing eulogistic remarks upon the character of our brother 
who has left us ; but we consider that it is due not to him alone but 
to this whole country that a man who was so marked in his grand 
individuality and splendid characteristics should be spoken of here, 
and that we should contribute what we are able to do to enhance the 
value of his memory for the sake of posterity, as well as for the 
present generation of men. 

The pathetic remarks that fell from his lips, which were quoted 
by the Senator from Illinois [Mr. Cullom], at the time that we were 
holding obsequies over the departed Senator from Michigan. Mr. 
Chandler, bring forcibly before my mind, as I have no doubt they 
bring before the mind of the Senate, the question, whither has gone 
this man so powerfully clothed with every element of strength, good- 
ness, and greatness of character? Has the Divine hand that fash- 
ioned a man like this, and made it possible for him to build himself 
up through the toils and labors and vicissitudes of life, found no use 
fur him in the great economy of His providence, since that sad and 
startling moment when he was taken, yes, snatched from our midst? 
I think, sir, of John A. Logan to-day as a powerful factor in the 
hands of his Creator, still working out diligently and faithfully the 
good that he seemed so well designed to accomplish. I do not regard 
him as lost or passed into a mythical land where there is no longer 
use for the valuable services which he has been so conspicuous iu 
rendering to his race while he lived among us. I think of him as 
a living, moving energy, still useful in the great purposes of the 
Divine economy. 

I do not come here. Mr. President, to pronounce about a man so 
sincere as he was any word of eulogy or praise in which there will 
be a coloring of insincerity. For twenty-five years 1 was opposed to 
almost every measure of public policy that la' espoused. It so turned 
out that in the first battle of the war. and in the latest battle in 
which I participated, we were confronted with each other. It so 
turned out that, having our political principles east much in the 



Address of Mr. Morgan, of Alabama. 27 

same mold in early life, we separated, as did the sections of this great 
country, upon questions that it appears could not be settled or rec- 
onciled otherwise than by war. 

After we had again come in the presence of each other in this 
Senate he, with an absolute sincerity of purpose, which I claim for 
myself also, took the opposite view from that which I held of most 
of the great questions that have engaged the attention of this body 
since that time. But in all that he did and in all that he said John 
\ LOGAN was a thoroughly sincere and a resolutely upright man. 
The differences of opinion that exist between men in this country, 
where freedom of speech and of debate are sanctioned and encour- 
aged by the Constitution and by the traditions of our history, de- 
velop men who oppose each other with great strength and power 
frequently, and develop even in ordinary men a strength of will and 
purpose that is honorable to them and beneficial to the people. Our 
divisions of sentiment and opinion are altogether natural and indis- 
pensable They merely mean that the questions with which we 
have to deal are debatable and often doubtful, and that they must 
finally be settled in this body, as in all other legislative bodies in 
this country, by the power of a majority, the minority always yield- 
ing to the majority as being right in substance and in effect. So 
that when I controvert with a man of the strength of Logan's will 
and a man of his ability, his learning, his enterprise, and his genius, 
for he possessed all in a large degree, I feel that the combats in 
which we engage are those in which men on either side may be ab- 
solutely sincere. 

John A. Logan was, more than almost any man in my remem- 
brance, the typical American of the Western States. He was bom 
and reared in the West, that country of marvelous strength, power, 
and progress. All of his efforts were given to the service first of 
that particular section and afterwards to the more enlarged service 
of the general country. But Logan seemed to be the embodiment 
of the spirit and power of that wonderful West, which has grown 
and strengthened in our country as no other section of this Union 
has within a given time. The energy of his nature, the fortitude, 
the persistence, the industry, the courage with which he encount- 
ered every question that arose seemed merely to exemplify the per- 
vading spirit of the western part of the United States, and he so will 
go down to posterity, not because we describe him in our speeches 



28 Life and Character of John A. Lnaun. 

liere to-day, but because he has described himself in every act of his 
life as a man perfectly understood, the recognized exemplar of one 
of the strongest and most splendid types of American character. 

I confess, Mr. President, that I feel a certain joy in the power of 
our country to develop men like this. I think it is greatly to the 
credit of the country that a man can be brought from the bosom 
of the people and lifted into the highest stations of place and power 
without in the slightest degree losing his identity with them; re- 
flecting here upon the floor of the Senate what they feel in their 
hearts and what they believe and teach in their homes, keeping up 
a perpetual bond of affectionate union between those highest in au- 
thority in this land and those who are in the retirement of private 

life. 

Institutions that can produce men and results like these are 
worthy of preservation, and no man more regrets than I do that 
there was ever one moment of time in the history of this country 
when it seemed to be necessary for the preservation of rights that 
a large portion of the people of this country believed to be sacivd 
that these institutions of ours should have been put under a threat. 
That time lias passed away, and with it all the rancors of the occa- 
sion. You can not point out in the history of any race of people 
that degree of mutual magnanimity and forbearance that has char- 
acterized the people of this great country in returning to unite 
hands and hearts m the maintenance of its institutions, in the ele- 
vation of its honor, and in the perfection of its glory. 

In these efforts men who thought and felt as I have thought and 
felt always gladly stretch forth the hand of honest brotherhood to 
men like John A. Logan. We were never afraid of such men. be- 
cause they were candid and true. No guile beset that man's life, 
no evasion, no finesse. No mere strategy ever characterized his 
conduct in public life, or marred his honor in private life. He was 
a bold, pronounced, dignified, earnest, manly, firm, generous, true 
man, and I value tin- opportunity to express these sentiments about 
such a man on the floor of the Senate on this solemn occasion. 

Passing beyond the events to which I have alluded, where he and 
I had adverse opinions, and taking this young man in company with 
thousands of his confreres of like age who were in the army that 
invaded Mexico, we find there the earliest display of those qualities 
which continued in unabated vigor and distinctiveness down to the 



Address of Mr. Morgan, of Alabama. 29 

very hour of his death. I have always felt that we had sent out 
with the army to Mexico the very flower of American chivalry in 
the persons of those young men who bore our banners in triumph to 
the halls of the Montezumas. Scarce a man who distinguished him- 
self in that war has not received great honors at the hands of his 
country and has not proved himself thoroughly worthy of them. 
We can scarcely recall an individual who had a prominent place in 
that war — I do not mean official place, but who won his position by 
dutiful service in that war — who has not received at the hands of 
the American people a complete recognition of those abilities and 
that courageous manhood which enabled him to go out in this early 
trial of his life and to prove himself iipon those fields as a man of 
valor and of power. 

I believe that no man has died in this country in a half century for 
whom the people of the United States at large had a more genuine re- 
spect or in whom they had greater confidence than in General Logax. 
The Senate has witnessed on various occasions his antagonism even 
to his best friends when his convictions led him to separate from 
them upon political and other questions that have been brought before 
the Senate. Always courageous, always firm, always true, you knew 
exactly where to place him; and when his manly form strode across 
the Senate Chamber and he took his seat among his brethren of this 
body this country as well as this august tribunal felt that a man had 
appeared of valor and strength and real ability. 

Though perhaps he could not handle the refinements of disquisition 
and logic with as much skill as some, Logax did not want to use 
such methods in his argument. He desired to have strong materials 
out of which to build powerful argumentation. If the facts that ap- 
peared before his mind convinced his judgment and his conscience 
that his course was right, he seldom stopped to see whether the path 
that he had marked out for himself was one justified by the doctrines 
of any political party or had been explored by some great man. While 
I feel that there is great attention always deserving to matters of the 
kind I have been mentioning, it is nevertheless true that those strong 
and earnest men who take hold of facts as they arise, and in handling 
them follow the dictates of judgment and of conscience, of tener meet 
the approval of the American people than those who refine too much 
and, from timidity, fail to reach the results that the people themselves 
have fastened their hearts upon. 



30 Life and Character of John. A. Logan. 

I am glad, Mr. President, of the opportunity afforded by knowl- 
edge of his character to render to our late associate what I conceive 
to be a merited tribute, and to extend my remarks further and to say 
of him that in his domestic relations he was one of the fondest and 
most lovable of men. In that crucial test of an honest character and 
of a gentle and forbearing nature, no man excelled John A. Logan. 
He was a true husband, a true father, a true friend, and when that 
is said of a man, and you can add to it also that he was a true patriot, 
a true soldier, and a true statesman, I do not know what else could 
be grouped into the human character to make it more sublime. 



Address of Mr. Edmunds, of Vermont. 

Mr. President : I first knew General Logan about twenty years 
ago. He was then a member of the House of Representatives, and 
I had just come to the Senate. His fame as a soldier, of course, was 
well known to me. His personal characteristics I then knew nothing 
of. I soon met him in committees of conference and otherwise as 
representing the opinions of the House of Representatives in matters 
of difference with the Senate, and I was struck, as everybody lias 
been who has known him, with the very extraordinary characteris- 
tics that he possessed. They have been stated by his colleague who first 
addressed you and by my friend on the other side of the Chamber— 
the characteristic of candor, the characteristic of simplicity of state- 
ment, the characteristic of clearness of opinion, the characteristic of 
that Anglo-Saxon persistence in upholding an opinion once formed 
that has made our British ancestors and our own people the strongest 
forces for civilization of which we have any account in the history 
of the world. 

There was no pretense about the. man; there was no ambuscade; 
there was no obscurity. What lie was for he understood his reason 
for being for, stated it briefly and clearly, and stuck to it; and that, 
as we all know, and as it always ought to be. means in the great 
majority <>f instances success, and where success failsit is an instance 
of honorable defeat. 

His industry, Mr. President, which 1 have so long had opportunity 
to know and to know intimately, for later when lie came to the Sen- 
ate it was my good fortune toserve witli him in one of the commit- 



Address of Mr. Edmunds, of Vermont. 31 

tees of the Senate having a very large amount of work to do— his 
industry, as well as these other characteristics that I have spoken of, 
was of the greatest. He seemed never to tire, to be ready to stay 
out and finish the things that were to be done, an example to us all of 
that fidelity to the administration of public interests, the things to 
be done and accomplished that I think were extremely conspicuous, 
and I must say among the living are somewhat rare. 

So speaking of him, Mr. President, as a Member of the House of 
Representatives and as a Senator performing his public duty. I can 
speak of him with the simplest sincerity and say that he was entitled, 
in my opinion, to the highest praise" for these qualities and these 
things that he both had and did in performing important public 

duties. 

No more can be said, Mr. President, of any man, whether he have 
the gifts of eloquence or the boundless resources of learning. He 
who does his meed of duty in the place where he stands is the best 
patriot, the best citizen, the best legislator, the best ruler, and the 
best man. That he did. 

For many years General Logan and I have sat here side by side. 
His temper, like that of some of those who sat very near to him, 
was not always of the most stolid kind, and he and I. sitting here 
side by side, very often in our constant conversations and intercourse 
differed and disagreed ; we sometimes got warm and angry ; but I 
think I can say truly that the sun never went down on his wrath 
toward me or any other man from occasions arising from differences 
of opinion and warmth of words. 

He was the gentlest of hearts, the truest of natures, the highest 
of spirits, that feels and considers the weaknesses of human nature 
and who does not let small things stand in the way of his generous 
friendship and affection for those with whom he is thrown. And so 
in the midst of a career that had been so honorable in every branch 
of the public service, and with just ambitions and just powers to a 
yet longer life of great public usefulness, he disappears from among 
us— not dead— promoted, as I think, leaving us to mourn, not his 
departure for his sake, but that the value of his conspicuous example, 
the strength of his conspicuous experience in public affairs, and the 
wisdom of his counsels have been withdrawn. 

And so I mourn him for ourselves, not for himself ; and so I look 
upon an occasion like this not so much— far from it— for the regrets 



32 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

that belong to personal separations as the testimonial that a great 
body like this should make for ourselves and for our people of a 
recognition of the merits and of the examples and of the services 
that are to be not only a memorial but an inspiration to us all and 
to all our countrymen as to the jitst recognition of the worth of 
noble deeds and honest desires. And so I lay my small tribute upon 
his grave in this way. 



Address of Mr. Manderson, of Nebraska. 

Mr. President: As I stood a few weeks ago by the vault that re- 
ceived within its gloomy walls the honored remains of John Alex- 
ander Logan, and heard the impressive words of the solemn ritual 
for the dead of the Grand Army of the Republic, it seemed to me 
a most fitting ceremonial. The aged comrade of the order who in 
tremulous tones read the lines that breathe in every word the spirit 
of fraternity, charity, and loyalty, represented the three hundred 
and fifty thousand companions in arms, comrades of the illustrious 
dead, to whom he was endeared by much of self-sacrifice and a de- 
votion to their interests that never knew fatigue. As the clear, 
well-sustained notes of the bugle hung, as though loath to leave, 
upon the wintry air, 

And the dingle's hollow throat 
Prolonged the swelling bugle note, 

sounding the call "lights out," it was fit finale to the life of activity 
and conflict so lately ended. It spoke of rest after fatigue, of the 
peaceful camp after the wearisome march, of craiet after the din of 
arms, of sweet sleep after battle. It meant the restful darkness 
after the wakeful light, the covering of the camp-fire to retain its 
warmth until the dawn, the promise of the coming day. the resur- 
rection, and the life eternal. 

The familiar bugle-call brought most vividly to my recollection 
the first time I met our friend and brother, nearly twenty-five years 
ago. The disaster to our arms on dread Chickamauga's bloody 
day— the only battle approaching defeat that the Army of the Cum- 
berland had ever known— had been redeemed by the glorious and 
substantial victories of Mission Ridge and Lookout Mountain. 
These battles had been won with the aid of the Army of the Ten- 
nessee, and Sherman, its leader, had come to tight by the side of 
Thomas, "the Rock of Chickamauga." 



Address of Mr. Manderson, of Nebraska. 33 

With Grant, the great captain, to direct the movements of these 
most able lieutenants, the victory was assured, and with the capture 
of the rebel stronghold upon the frowning heights of Mission Ridge 
and lofty Lookout the Georgia campaign, that ended in the capture 
of Atlanta and the march to the sea, that -broke the back of the 
rebellion," became possibilities. The fair fame of our brethren of 
the Tennessee was familiar to us of the Army of the Cumberland. 
We had fought by their side at Shiloh. We knew of their high 
emprise at Corinth, Champion Hills, and Vicksburg. We had 
heard and read of Sherman. MePherson, and Logan. 

I do not disparage the bright fame of either of the first two when 
I say that the chief interest centered at that time about the name oi 
the third of these famous leaders of the Army of the Tennessee. 
He was the great volunteer soldier . He came from civil life-was 
without education in the art of war save that which came from a 
limited experience during the war with Mexico. He resigned his 
position as a member of Congress to enter the Army of the Union 
as a private. With burning words of eloquence and lofty patriot- 
ism he gathered his neighbors of his Congressional district about 
his recruiting flag, organized and became the colonel of the Thirty- 
first Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. The baptism of blood came 
to him at Belmont, where he led the charging column upon the foe. 
At Fort Henry his regiment captured eight of the enemy's guns. 
At Fort Donelson, while impetuously urging his men to the assault, 
he was badly wounded in the arm and hip but never flinched, and 
by his intrepidity kept his men in place until they were re-enforced, 
their commander leaving the field only when faint from loss of blood. 
His regiment in this bloody fray lost fifty per cent, of its number in 
killed and wounded. Promoted to be brigadier-general, he retu rue. 1 
before full recovery of health and strength, and at Corinth General 
Sherman acknowledged his special obligation to General LOGAN, 
and described how gallantly "he held the critical ground on the 
right against a large force of the enemy." 

Advanced to the command of a division he saved the day at Ray- 
mond, and the historian wrote of him: 

He was Ml of zeal and wild with enthusiasm, and to his division belongs the 
honor of the victory. Fearless as a lion, he was in every part of tin field and 
seemed to infuse every man of his command with a part of Ins own nulomitable 
energy and fiery valor. 
3 L 



;j4 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

At Jackson and at Champion Hills his splendid division, as usual, 
immortalized itself. He seemed a born leader, displaying "un- 
flinching endurance, daring bravery, and determined energy." At 
the siege of Vicksburg, and particularly in the assault after the 
mine explosion, he was the prominent figure. His division was the 
first to enter the captured stronghold on that memorable fourth day 
of July. A witness of the scene wrote: 

The General rode at their head worshiped by his men— a man of iron will and 
lion-like courage, who seemed under the blasts of war to change into a demi-god. 

As a tribute to his gallantry and effective service during the siege, 
he was made military governor, and iu that capacity displayed won- 
derful executive power in caring for the captured thousands of Pem- 
berton's army and the many other thousands of citizens who were 
reduced almost to starvation. He brought "order out of chaos, re- 
strained disorder, and treated the conquered with impartial justice." 

Having been made major-general of volunteers, he succ led 

General Sherman as commander of the Fifteenth Corps. 

His parting address to the gallant division he had so frequently 
led to victory is well worthy of remembrance. He said it "had 
made for itself a history to be proud of; a history never to be for- 
gotten; for it is written as with a pen of fire dipped in ink of blood 
in the memories and in the hearts of all." He besought his men in 
these words: "Remember the glorious cause you are fighting for, 

remember the bleaching bones of your comrades killed on the hi ly 

fields of Donelson, Corinth. Champion Hills, and Vicksburg, or who 
perished liy disease during the past two years of hardship and ex- 
posure, and swear by these imperishable memories never, while life 
remains, to prove recreant to the trust Heaven has confided to your 
charge." 

This was the meteoric military career of the junior of the three 
splendid soldiers who came from the greal valley they had immor- 
talized by their valor to the central West, to join with Thomas. 
Scholield, and Hooker in the campaign againsl Atlanta — "the gate 
city of the South." 

I first saw Logan in front of the Confederate position on Kenesaw 
Mountain, when his corps made that desperate assault upon Little 
Kenesaw — so fruitless in results, so costly in human life. The sight 
was an inspiration. Well mounted — "he looked of his horse a 
part." His swarthy complexion, long black hair, compact figure, 



Address of ^fr. Manderson, of Nebraska. :\'> 

stentorian voice, and eyes that seemed to blaze "with the light of 
battle," made a figure once seen never to be forgotten. In action 
be was the very spirit of war. His magnificent presence would 
make a coward fight. He seemed a resistless force. 

The sword 

Of Michael, from the armory of God, 

Was given him, tempered so that neither keen 

Nor solid might resist that edge. 

The splendid record of achievements won along the Mississippi 
was to remain unbroken. His name is written upon every page of 
the Georgia campaign of over one hundred days of constant fighting. 
Says one of the historians of the Army of the Cumberland: "As 
the united armies advanced along the battle line, where for four 
months the firing never wholly ceased by day or by night, everybody 
came to know LoGAN.^Brave, vigilant, and aggressive, he won uni- 
versal applause. Prudent for his men and reckless in exposing his 
own person, he excited general admiration."' 

When the lines were close his own headquarters were often scarcely 
out of sight of the pickets, and he generally had a hand in whatever 
deadly work might spring up along his front. 

At Resaca, at Dallas, in front of frowning Kenesaw, at Peach Tree 
Creek, and New Hope Church his corps under his leadership added 
to its fame. When McPherson was killed Logan assumed temporary 
command of the Army of the Tennessee, and "wrested victory from 
the jaws of defeat." We of the Cumberland heard the noise of the 
cannon and the rattle of the musketry that told of the severe as- 
saults made by the desperate foe on Logan's line. I visited the field 
the next morning and saw the terrible results of the deadly struggle. 

The ground was thickly strewn with the slain, and the face of 
nature had been changed by the conflict as though 

Men had fought upon the earth and fiends in upper air. 

Logan's battle presence here is said to have been sublime. The 
death of his beloved comrade in arms seemed to transform him into 
a very Moloch. Bare-headed he rode his lines, encouraging his men 
by word and deed, his battle-cry. "McPherson and revenge." Sher- 
man's official report of the battle says : 

The brave and gallant Genera] Loh.vn nobly sustained his reputation and that of 
his veteran army and avenged the death of his'couirade and commander. 



36 Life (Did Character of John A. Logan. 

I would fain speak of Ezra Chapel and Jonesborough, but lack of 
time forbids. 

On September 2nd the campaign of constant fighting that began 
May 2nd closed by the occupation of Atlanta, and no one man did 
more to bring about the glorious result than lie whose death we to- 
day deplore. Of his services during the march from Savannah 
through the Carolinas I cannot take time to speak. He rode at the 
head of the victorious veterans of the Army of the Tennessee at the 
( J land Review. Long its leader, he had at last become its commander. 
No more knightly figure appeared in the marching columns. No 
braver or truer heart swelled with the lofty emotions of the hour. 

Through all of General Logan's military career it is evident that 
he was far more than a mere soldier. Although terribly at home 
upon the field of battle it was not love of the life that took him there. 
His sensitive and sympathetic nature caused him many unhappy 
hours as he saw the horrors war had wrought. He was no mere 
seeker for "the bubble reputation." The speeches made and letters 
written immediately before and during the great struggle for national 
existence show him to have been imbued with the spirit of loftiest 
patriotism. In Congress he said : 

I have been taught to believe that the preservation of this glorious Union, with 
its broad flag waving over us as the shield for our protection on land and on sea, is 
paramount to all the parties and platforms that ever have existed, or ever can exist. 
I would to-day. if I had the power, sink my own party and every other one with 
all their platforms into the vortex of ruin, without heaving a sigh or shedding a 
tear, to save the Union. 

Iii 1862, when solicited to represent Illinois as Representative tit 
large, he wrote: 

A compliance with your request on my part would be a departure from the set- 
tled resolutions with which I resumed my sword in defense and for the perpetuity 
of a government, the like and blessings of which no other nation or age shall enjoy 
if once suffered to lie weakened or destroyed. In making this reply I feel that it 
is unnecessary to enlarge as to what were, are. or may hereafter be my political 
views, but would simply state that politics of every grade and character whatso- 
ever are now ignored by me, since I am convinced that the Constitution and life of 
this Republic, which I shall never cease to adore, are in danger. 

I express all my views in politics when I assert my attachment for the Union. I 
have no other politics now, and consequently no aspirations for civil place or power. 
No! I amto-daj a soldier of this Republic, so to remain, changeless and immuta- 
ble, until her last am! weakest enemy shall have expired and passed away. Ambi- 
tious men ulin have not a true love for their country at heart may bring forth 

crude and bootless questions to agitate the pulse of our troubled nation anil thwart 
the preservation of this Union, but of none of such am I. I have entered the field 

to die if needs be for this Government, and never expect to return to peaceful pur- 
suits until the object of this war has become a fact established. 



Address of Mr. Manderson, of Nebraska. 37 

While deeply in earnest and desirous of serving his country in the 
largest sphere, it cannot be said that he was ambitious. He never 
sought promotion. It came to him as proper recognition of gnat 
fitness and much service. 

The trait in his character upon which my thoughts dwell with 
fondness and emotion was his generous regard for the rights of others. 
It shone out conspicuously in his treatment of that noble soldier and 
true patriot, General George H. Thomas, whom all men loved. There 
was impatience that Thomas did not move to the attack of Hood. 
The fact that the rain, which froze as it fell, covered the earth witli 
ice, upon which man or beast could scarcely stand was really cause 
sufficient for delay. 

Logan was ordered to supersede the great leader of the Cumber- 
land army. He proceeded westward without haste, although the 
command of that splendid army of veterans was something greatly 
to be desired. Reaching Louisville and hearing that the thaw had 
come and Thomas ready to move, he delayed in that city. The glo- 
rious news of the great victory at Nashville soon came to him. 
Logan, with the order assigning him to supreme command in his 
pocket, telegraphed the glad tidings to Washington and asked thai 
Thomas might remain at the head of the men who had followed him 
fur so many years, and that he might return to the inferior com- 
mand. 

No desire for self-advancement could prompt him to disregard the 
rights of a comrade. Without a murmur he had before this time 
seen the command of the Army of the Tennessee pass to another 
when it seemed matter of right that it should he his as the natural 
successor of the lamented McPherson. General Hooker, with less of 
claim, wanted it, and in his grievous disappointment asked to he 
relieved from duty. Logan did not sulk an instant, but. with 
unselfish patriotism, went wherever duty called. 

It is not mypurpose to speak of the great dead in any other capac- 
ity than that of a soldier. Let others speak of him as a citizen, 
lawyer, legislator, statesman, and tell of his merits as a civilian, hus- 
hand. father, and friend. I was his recognized comrade, as was 
every other man who wore the blue. He never forgot them. They 
will never forget him. He made it impossible so to do by his de\ . .- 
tion to the volunteer soldiers' interests. The statute hooks are full 
of laws for the maimed and disabled, the widowed and the father- 



38 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

less, that lie either originated or actively helped to pass. His life 
here and in the other house since the war was one of constant devo- 
tion to those with whom he had served. It was this strong feeling 
of comradeship that prompted him to aid materially in the organi- 
zation of that great order — the Grand Army of the Republic. 

He originated the ever-beautifid Memorial Day, and constantly 
urged its observance. It was a revelation to many that this sturdy 
soldier should have conceived the poetic idea that the graves of the 
Union dead should receive their yearly tribute of flowers. The 
thought was born of his love for them. There was much that was 
refined beneath the bold, frank exterior. 

The bravest are the tenderest, 
The loving are the daring. 

A friend who knew him well writes of him : 

His domestic life was an exquisite idyl. It was fragrant with faith and tender- 
ness. It was a poem whose rhythm •was never marred. 

Our hearts go out in sympathetic love to-day to the lonely woman 
who was his helpmeet all the days of his manhood life. Hers the 
desolation of a great loss, but with it the consolation of a great love. 

Peace be with her. 



Address of Mr. Hampton, of South Carolina. 

Mr. President: I understand and appreciate fully the motives 
which prompt the tender and touching tributes paid here to the 
memory of our late and distinguished colleague. I sympathize with 
them as honorable alike to the living and to the dead. It is emi- 
nently right and proper that the political associates and the comrades 
in arms of the dead statesman and soldier should bear grateful testi- 
mony to his services and pay homage to his virtues. This is his due; 
it belongs of right to him, and none are more willing to accord this 
to him than those who were his political opponents. For one. 1 join 
gladly in every mark of respect paid to the memory of General 
Logan. But, sir, in the few remarks which I shall make on this 
mournful occasion which recalls a calamity that has tilled, not only 
the Senate, hut the whole count ry with profound sorrow, I must speak 
from a stand point different from that occupied by the political friends 



Address of Mr. Hampton, of South Carolina. 39 

and the comrades of him who has been stricken down in the prime 
of manhood, and in the midst of his usefulness so suddenly and so 
mysteriously. The political school in which my creed was formed 
inculcated other doctrines than those held by General Logan, and 
these necessarily not only arrayed me in the ranks of his political 
opponents, but in those which were opposed to the cause he espoused 
and so bravely upheld in the late unhappy civil war. As a Demo- 
crat, a Southern man, and a Confederate soldier, I am called on to 
speak of him as a Republican in high and deserved honor with his 
party, as a Northern man who offered his life and gave his blood to 
prove the sincerity of his convictii ins, and as a Federal soldier whose 
fame was as widespread as it was fairly achieved. 

I therefore leave to others better fitted than myself the grateful 
duty of portraying his remarkable military career which placed him 
high in the ranks of successful commanders, and of tracing his no 
less remarkable political career, which led him up to become an hon- 
ored and recognized leader of his party. But I may say, in con- 
nection with his brilliant military service, and it is due to him that 
I should say it, that when war was flagrant, and the passions of men 
were inflamed to their highest pitch, we of the South knew of no 
act of cruelty, of barbarity, or of inhumanity to stain his record as 
a brave and honorable soldier. 

I shall speak of him as I knew him here, as a, Senator and as a man. 
and while we held opposite opinions on nearly all of the great ques- 
tions which have divided parties in this country. I hope that I may 
be able to speak with impartiality and with truth. His ability com- 
manded my admiration; his many high qualities won my persona] 
regard, and every feeling of my heart prompts me to do full justice I,, 
his merits. My acquaintance with General Logan began upon my 
entrance into this body, and by a curious coincidence the first utter- 
ances I heard in this Chamber were from him while he was criticising 
my own State sharply. His language on that occasion, as may read- 
ily lie supposed, w T as not calculated to inspire me with friendly feel- 
ings toward him. and it created in my mind a, prejudice against him 
which doubtless warped my judgment to .some extent. It was in this 
condition of things that I found myself placed on the Committee on 
Military Affairs, of which he was a member, and over which he sub- 
sequently presided as chairman for years, zealously and efficiently. 
Our service together on thai committee was continuous from that 



40 Life and character of John A. Logan. 

time until death freed him from earthly labors, and my long asso- 
ciation with him there taught me to respect his great ability and to 
admire the many good and generous traits which marked his char- 
acter so strongly. Thoroughly familiar with the Army rules and 
regulations, earnestly desirous of promoting the efficiency of the ser- 
v i , t, Lai x >ri< >us and conscientious in the discharge of his duties, dev< >1 ( )d 
to the old soldiers, he was fully equipped to fill the arduous and re- 
sponsible position he held. Of ardent temperament and strong will, 
he was not free from the prejudices which always belong to natures 
such as his was, but these were rigidly subordinated to his stern sense 
of justice and of honor. And, sir, I can say truthfully that he fre- 
quently tempered justice by mercy, and I acknowledge gratefully 
that on many occasions the people of the South were the recipients 
.if his kindness. His words in the heat and conflict of debate were 
sometimes bitter, but his acts, inspired by his generous heart, were 
generally kinder than his words. But by his acts I prefer to judge 
his character, and by them my estimate of him has been formed. 

The characteristics which gave him such marked individuality as 
chairman of the Military Committee were constantly illustrated on 
the floor of the Senate. A strong adherent and supporter of his party, 
he never failed to assert his independence of thought and of action 
w In never he deemed that his duty demanded this. Frank, fearless, 
and outspoken, he possessed in an eminent degree the courage which 
springs from sincere convictions, and he had the ability to defend 
these convictions. While doing this he dealt heavy blows, bui they 
were always delivered in an open, straightforward, manly manner. 
He never fought in ambush; he asked only an open Held and fair play. 
Possessing as he did so many rare and generous attributes, it is not 
Strange that he found warm friends even among his political oppo- 
nents, nor is it surprising that he was a tower of strength to his own 

party. 

His services, his talents, commanded the position of a leader, and 
he filled that position ably. The ancient Romans, Mr. President. 
regarded courage as among the highesl virtues, and the word used 
by them to express this quality has given to our language its beau- 
tiful word "virtue." If the Latin and the English words are syn- 
onymous, as they should be, then surely we can ascribe courage and 
virtue to John A. LOGAN. 

No braver man ever lived, and the Almighty Creator endowed him 



Address of Mr. Allison, of Iowa. 41 

with many < >ther and great virtues. His work on earl h is d« .no, and 

he is at rest. 

And from heaven of heavens above 

God speaketh with bateless breath: 
" My angel of perfect love 
Is the angel men call Death!" 



Address of Mr. Allison, of Iowa. 

Mr. President: Whosoever shall hereafter faithfully write the 
annals of our country's history forthelasi quarter of a century will 

have occasion to speak often and in words of high praise the name 
of General John A. Logan. 

His death came suddenly and unexpectedly to us all, as hut a few 
days before he was in his seat, apparently in his usual health. When 
it came it disclosed not only the warm affection, friendly devotion, 
and high esteem of his associates in this Chamber, hut also the firm 
and enduring hold he had upon the affections. of his countrymen 
everywhere. In public halls and churches and in other places they 
assembled to give expression to their grief and sorrow by memorial 
services and public addresses, recounting the story of his life. 

The universal manifestation, spontaneous and sincere, did not 
come by chance or accident, but because his long public career ren- 
dered him worthy of the great honors that were paid to his memory. 
Others have spoken of his early history in Mexico, at the bar. and 
in the State Legislature, all preliminary to larger field openingup 
to him in the National Congress and upon the great theater of war. 
He first appeared in the National Capitol and took a seat in the 
House of Representatives, to which he had been elected from the 
State of Illinois, in December. 1859. He was elected as a Democrat, 
and whatever part he took in the public discussions of that session 
was in the line pursued by the Democratic party. It is not fitting 
here and now to speak of the momentous questions whicb then agi- 
tated the public mind and sharply divided political parties. He was 
thrown int.. the midst of this terrific political conflict, which even 
then threatened the country with war. He arrayed himself on the 
side of the great leader of one faction of the Democratic party, and 
in the Presidential struggle of I860 he espoused the cause of this 
great leader with all the zeal of his strong personality, and in his 



42 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

own State aimed heavy blows at the Republican party and the 
Southern wing of his own. 

That struggle ended in the election of President Lincoln, which 
was soon followed by the opening of a struggle of a very different 
nature. This conflict of arms, though long predicted by many, at 
last came suddenly upon the country without preparation. It lias 
been said that "once to every man and nation comes the moment to 
decide in the strife of truth with falsehood for the good or evil side." 
This supreme moment came then not only to the country, but to the 
citizen, whatever his station. General Logan did not hesitate, but 
at once, with his great leader, arrayed himself on the side of his 
c( luntry. So deciding, he immediately resigned his seat in Congress, 
surrendering for the time his political ambition, returned to his 
native State, and with all the energy and impetuosity of his nature 
proclaimed his purpose to enter the military service and remain in 
it until the Union was restored. This among his constituents was a 
courageous resolve, as from their location and political education 
they were not easily persuaded to risk all, as he proposed, to save 
the Union. Such was the force of his character and the persuasive- 
ness of his arguments that in a very few days he found himself al 
the head of a regiment largely composed of his political associates 
and friends. 

Here began that conspicuous military record which four years 
later by common consent placed him foremost among the many 
eminent civilian commanders of that great conflict. 

I shall leave others to speak in detail of his military career, but 
cannot refrain from saying that through it all he had the confidence 
of his military superiors as one fitted to command a great army in 
battle. Sherman assigned him to the supreme command on the 
battlefield of Atlanta after McPherson was slain; lie justified that 
confidence by leading the army to victory. Later on Grant did 
not hesitate to select him as the man most likely to achieve a victory 
at Nashville, when he was growing restless at the delay of General 
Thomas. Here as everywhere he showed the magnanimity ami 
generosity of the true soldier by not wresting the command from 
Thomas on the threshold of a great victory. 

He not only held throughout the war the undiminished confidence 
of the great chieftains I have named, but his great qualities as a sol- 
dier also secured for him the respect, esteem, and confidence of those 



Address of Mr. Allison, of Iowa. 43 

serving under him, which he held firmly and unreservedly to the 
end; and the soldiers who served with him now grieve because of 

the loss of a comrade, companion, and friend, and they will repeat 
to their dying day around theircamp tires, recounting the stories of 
the war, "I fought with Logan at Atlanta," or "at Jonesborough," 
or "at Vicksburg." 

General Logan reappeared in this Capitol as a Representative in 
March, 1867, and from that time until Ins death, except for a period 
of two years, he was continuously a member either of the House or 
of the Senate. 

His ability as a popular orator and Ins great military reputation 
gave him prominence at once in the House of Representatives. He 
fully sustained himself in that great popular body by the earnestness 
of his convictions, by his skill as a debater, and by 1 1 is knowledge of 
public affairs. He soon became one of the recognized leaders in the 
consideration and discussion of the great questions before the House. 
At that time, and by the vote of his associates in that body, he was 
chosen to appear here as one of the managers in behalf of the House 
to conduct the trial of the impeachment of President Johnson. 

The questions then prominent were questions growing out of the 
war. covering the entire range and scope of the powers of the Gen- 
eral Government, the reorganization of the Army, the management 
of the public debt, the reduction of taxes, changes in our tariff and 
internal-revenue systems, the currency, specie payments, the new 
amendments to the Constitution, and the restoration of the States 
deprived of representation because of the rebellion. All these ques- 
tions and many others were in a brief space of time forced upon Con- 
gress for its consideration. General Log ax had decided views upon 
them all, and expressed his views fearlessly and with great force and 
power. 

General Logan was transferred to this Chamber in 1871. He was 
then in the full vigor of his matured faculties, and brought with him 
the valuable experience of a long service in the House, and at once 
took high rank in the Senate, which he maintained undiminished to 
the end. always taking an active part in the discussion of the great 
questions constantly appearing here for action. His sympathy with 
his old comrades and their devotion to his personal fortunes imposed 
upon him unusual labor in caring for their interests and welfare. 
He was assiduous and constant in the advocacy of all the measures 



44 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

which ho and they deemed of especial interest to them, whether 
respecting pensions, boiinty, back pay, or the reorganization of the 
Army itself, and be became their conspicuous advocate and friend. 
So that for all the years following the war whatever legislation there 
is upon our statute books upon these topics bears the impress of his 
advocacy. 

He was a man of tireless activity and industry in the Senate. The 
Fitz-John Porter case is a conspicuous example of these character- 
istics. He found time in the midst of the multiplied cares of a seat 
in this body to write an exhaustive history of the causes which led 
to the conflict in which he bore so prominent a part. 

This brief retrospect discloses that the life of General Logan was 
one of ceaseless activity and exceptional usefulness to his country. 

Few men of this generation in our country have achieved a more 
illustrious career. 

Coming into active political life at the beginning of the great civil 
war. he has linked his name imperishably with the military achieve- 
ments that resulted in the restoration of the Union. Coming into 
t lie councils of the nation soon after the close of hostilities, he bore 
11,11 honorable part in the legislation which then seemed necessary 
for the perpetuation of the Union. 

General Logan was not. in the common acceptance of that phrase, 
an eloquent man; yet he had extraordinary power as a popular 
orator. There was something inherent in his character and method 
and in his utterances intensely attractive to large assemblies. Few 
men in our country could attract Larger audiences, or hold them 
more firmly, or direct t hem more certainly to the views he expressed. 
This characteristic was well illustrated in the campaign of L884, 
when great multitudes gathered to hear him. and listened with in- 
tense interest to every utterance, and were persuaded by his argu- 
ments and eloquence. 

.Mr. President, this body in its organization is perpetual, and un- 
less the Constitution shall be changed will endure as long as the 
Government remains. It is now the same body it was when organ- 
ized in L789. Its members have the longestfixed term known to the 
Constitution except the temvre of the judges of our courts; yet its 
membership rapidly changes. When we met in December only six 
Sei in tors appeared in their seats who were in this ( 'ham her fourteen 
years ago, when 1 entered it. One of these was General Logan; 



Address of Mr. Hawley, of Connecticut. 45 

and of all the men who have come and gone hi these intervening 
years, none were more conspicuous and none will he more missed by 
the country and by those of us who still remain. 

My service with him began in the other House, in L867, and since 
that time we have been associated together continuously upon 
important committees. So I had opportunity to know him well. 
Like most of us, he was not free from faults and peculiarities of 
disposition; his nature was sensitive; he was quick to resent an 
injury, and as quick to forgive it. He never knowingly did an 
injustice to his associates, and if lie found that he had dune so un- 
consciously, he was swift and ready to make reparation. He was 
conscientious in the discharge of his public duties. 

In his death the nation has lost one of its ablest counselors, his 
comrades in the army one of their most ardent and devoted support- 
ers, we in this Chamber a valued co-worker and friend. 

The arduous labors, the conflicts and struggles incident to high 
public station with him are ended. Those who survive him here 
will struggle on for a few brief years at most, and will then, like 
him. be gathered to the world beyond, to receive the reward which 
awaits those who perform faithfully and well all their duties here. 



Address of Mr. Hawley, of Connecticut. 

Mr. President: A stranger seeing < reneral Logan for the firs! time 
and observing him in these Halls a few days ago would perhaps have 
said that the most prominent feature of his character was his com- 
bativeness. He snuffed the battle afar off; he never lagged in the 
rear of the column; he crowded to the front; he never shirked the 
combat; he went out to look for it. 

He was quick and strong in his likes and his dislikes. He scorned 
doul ile-dealing and meanness, but I do not think that he hated any- 
body. 

We have seen him in committee and here in this Hall, impetuous, 
trampling down all obstacles to his cause, and perhaps trampling 
upon the feelings of his associates. We have seen him then, upon a, 
protest, drop the point of his sword instantly, become gentle, quiet, 
conciliatory, and evidently full of regret that he had even appeared 
to be unjust to any one. 



4G Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

He had a matchless courage, as everybody knows, a courage not 
only upon the battlefield but a high courage and spirit of self-sacri- 
fice in politics. He had a right to suppose from all that was said to 
him by great multitudes that he was a fair and honorable candidate 
for the Presidency, yet he cheerfully accepted a subordinate position 
upon a Presidental ticket in 1884 in the belief, in which he was 
strengthened by friends, that his influence and his acquaintance with 
tens of thousands of soldiers would bring something of strength to 
his political party. 

We remember very well the famous Fitz-John Porter controversy. 
He was well aware in what he was doing there that he was strength- 
ening old animosities and creating new ones ; but you know with 
what a splendid courage he carried himself through, with what 
power, with what indefatigable industry he accumulated his facts 
and arguments, and renewed the battle again and again. 

I remember with interest that during the controversy over the 
famous anti-Chinese bill he was absent. He returned after a time. 
and while he was under no obligation to say anything, he was op- 
posed to the bill, and lest he might be even thought to shirk— no, 
not that, but because he desired to share in whatever was being done 
—he took an early occasion to rise here and manifest his vigorous 
and determined opposition to that measure. He knew well what 
chances he took then of losing political support. 

Not a great while ago there arose here a very painful controversy 
concerning the Senatorial representative from one of our un.it 
States. He took his ground firmly ; he argued it with all his accus- 
tomed vigor and energy. He recognized well that he was creating 
again enemies and opponents — yes, more than opponents, bitter ene- 
mies — in a great State that would be essential to the support of his 
ambition. 

I remember that General Logan was several times much annoyed 
by a charge that about the time of the breaking out of hostilities, or 
previous to it. he had been concerned in raising troops for the Con- 
federate service. It was a charge that had not a shadow of truth in 
it. He was a Democrat, of course, before the war, and. as he was in 
everything else, intensely a Democrat, fierce, combative, hitter some- 
times ; but as the contest drew near the lire of his patriotism blazed 
up and consumed like flax all obstacles in his way. and he became, 
as you have learned from some declarations of his made at the time, 



Address of Mr. Hawley, of Connecticut. 47 

nothing hut a defender of the Union. And not only as a soldier, 
for he carried with him politically the people of Southern Illinois. 
many of whom in their political prejudices and convictions were as 
completely Southerners as the people of Alahama. He swept them 
along with him hy the power and fierce energy of his oratory. 

He went into the war. After Vicksburg General Grant said that 
McPherson and Logan had demonstrated their fitness to become the 
eoinmanders of independent armies. He had a right to suppose, 
after the gallant McPherson had fallen, under the very feet of an 
advancing and temporarily triumphant Confederate force, he had a 
fair right to suppose that he would succeed to that officer's com- 
mand. He was second in rank. The soldiers desired it. They had 
seen his great leadership on that battlefield as on many others. An- 
other took the place, an honorable and gallant soldier. Logan never 
wavered for a moment. 

The manly generosity and high courtesy of his bearing when he 
was ordered to relieve the noble General Thomas have been de- 
scribed to-day. I do not contrast General Logan's action on that 
occasion with the conduct of certain others in similar situations, 
though there were examples of wonderful contrast ; but he was as 
obedient as a child, faithfiil as ever. His complaints were probably 
uttered, for he could not disguise himself, but they are not upon 
record. 

He labored under the reproach that he was something of a politi- 
cal soldier in those days, but he did not then disclose the fact that 
he had received a suggestion he could not disregard, that he should 
go to Illinois, another battlefield as important as the battlefield of 
Atlanta. 

He came to be the eminent figure among the volunteer soldiers. It 
is so recorded ; it will be so remembered in history. There is no 
volunteer soldier of the old Army, the most captious or the most 
jealous, who regrets or carps at any of the great honors paid to 
Logan ; for whatever is said of Logan as the chief of volunteers is 
claimed to be the common glory of them all. 

I heard General Grant say once of him in private conversation 
that he was uneasy in camp but all right when he charged. He 
sulked in his tent, but it was because it was a tent. When the bugle 
called him to the saddle he was exultant, happy. 

He was classed as a political general. I do not know that it was 



48 Life and ( 'ha racier of .John A. Logan. 

altogether an unfriendly remark. He was, sir ; lie had the honor to 
be a political general. It was a political war, and he was as strong 
in one field of battle as the other ; the political generals did double 
duty. The anxiety during some of the great days of those four 
years was not that the soldiers of the Union would be unable to put 
down the rebellion in due time, but that the voters at the ballot-box 
might put down the war too early; and some of the political combats 
won by Logan and others at home were as useful to the cause of the 
Union as the triumphs of Vicksburg and Gettysburg. Baker, match- 
less as an orator, chivalrous and lovely in battle, was a political 
general. Garfield, giving promise of great generalship by an uncon- 
querable industry and energy, and a brilliant courage in the face of 
the enemy's guns — Garfield, obeying what was almost a command, 
went from the army to Congress. Frank Blair, with the trumpet 
tones of his voice and the quiver of his uplifted finger, was worth a 
corps of soldiers in his influence over Missouri, and he was a polit- 
ical general. 

Scandal spared General Logan from its insinuations of dishonor 
in private or public life. Perhaps calumnious mud was thrown at 
him, but nothing of it is recorded or retained in the memories of 
men. 

He loved his country. Why, sir, that is true of sixty millions of 
people, I hope; but he loved it with a devotion immeasurable and 
unfathomable. He believed in the justice, the equality, and the 
liberty of its Constitution and its laws. He had no doubt whatever 
of the wisdom of this great experiment, universal suffrage and all. 
He was no agnostic; he had a creed and a purpose always, in every 
contest. He did not assume all knowledge; but what he knew, he 
knew he knew; and what he believed he was always ready to say. 
Whatever he wanted, he greatly wanted; he was very much in ear- 
nest. He trusted the great jury of twelve million voters and had 
no doubt about the future prosperity, honor, and glory of the great 
Republic. 

He was an ambitious man, politically; be had aright to be, and 
he won a high place. He was ambitious of a great, place among sol- 
diers, and he won it. 

He was generous, he was frank, he was tender. Possibly that will 
sound strangely to many people who did not know him as we did. 
He had as tender a heart as entered these doors. He was one of the 



Address of Mr. Spooner, of Wisconsin. 4!) 

bravest men physically and morally that ever lived. He was a brill- 
iant and great volunteer soldier. He was an incorruptible citizen 
and legislator. His patriotism was unsurpassed in enthusiasm, in- 
tensity, and faith. 



Address of Mr. Spooner, of Wisconsin. 

Mr. President : The busy hand of death beckons us again to the 
side of a new-made grave. Amid the tears and sobs of this greal 
people, to the music of muffled drums, and under the furled flag which 
he loved, we tenderly bore John A. Logan to his rest. 

It was to be expected that the words of tribute spoken in this 
Chamber, still so filled with his presence, would come fresh and 
strong from warm hearts, for his wonderful career was of our own 
day and generation, and we were his colleagues and friends. 

But, sir, no one need fear for Logan the cold analysis of the his- 
torian yet to come. How little dependent is this man's fame upon 
the speech of his contemporaries. It rests upon the solid foundation 
of glorious deeds and splendid public service. We may well say 
that he was born for the service of the people, for the active years 
i if his whole life, with hardly an intermission, were spent in the 
discharge of public duty. That life was an open book, read and 
known of all men, and biographical details of it are for my purpose 
quite unnecessary. It is said that "history is the essence of innumer- 
able biographies." Logan's life is of the essence of our history. 

With him love of country was a passion, and with him the union 
of the States was "the country." He could see, save through the 
perpetuity of that Union, nothing of any worth in the future of the 
Republic. 

Of strong convictions and prejudices, a stern partisan, reared 
among those whose predilections and views of constitutional right 
were distinctly of the Southern school, the friend and trusted lien- 
tenant of Douglas, it will stand forever to the credit of his clearness 
of mental vision and of his independence of character, that when 
the war cloud which had been so long gathering broke in fury upon 
the country, he straightway took his rightful place by the side of 
Abraham Lincoln, under the beautifid flag which, at the threshold of 
his manhood, he had followed upon the plains of Mexico. 



50 Life (uid Character of John A. Logan. 

His star shot into the sky at Belmont, to shine fixed and unobseured 
forever. 

It -would be idle for me to recount the battles which he fought and 
won, the precipitous charges which he led, the marvelous personal 
magnetism and daring which, communicating itself to a whole army, 
turned, as by the will power of one man, defeat into victory. It is 
enough to say of him as a soldier that by common consent he stands 
forth the ideal volunteer soldier of the war. He was, among a 
million brave men, original, picturesque, and unique. There was 
but one John A. Logan. What a pitiful combination of folly and 
malignity was that which thrust at such a one the charge of disloy- 
alty! 

The world loves, and easily remembers, the soldier. Tales of the 
bivoruic and the siege and the charge, of personal daring on the field 
of battle, have had peculiar fascination for men in every age, and 
doubtless Logan's chief renown will be as a soldier. He would have 
it so. 

But, great as he was in war, he was great also as an orator of the 
people, and in the councils of peace. He won as an orator a reputa- 
tion which, if he had no other claim to be remembered, would keep 
his name alive and would satisfy any reasonable ambition. His ] >< >j >- 
ularity as a speaker was not ephemeral, nor was it pecidiar to any 
section. He was everywhere welcome. Listening thousands hung 
in rapt interest upon his words. It is not at all difficult to account 
for his power as a speaker. His evident sincerity and earnestness, 
his commanding presence, the flash of his eye, the like of which I 
never saw in any other face, the boldness of his utterance, the im- 
petuous flow of his speech, and the trumpet tones of his voice, nave 
to him as a, popular orator a charm indescribable. No man could 
catch more quickly than he the spirit of his audience, or more deftly 
adapt himself to its fancy. 

The law of his life was action. He could not rest. It is said of 
him that as a soldier lie was .dialing and unhappy unless the army 
was in motion and the battle near at hand. This characteristic was 
quite as marked in civil life. 

He was a student and a worker, and as the years weld on he grew 
in mental strength and stature and in oratorical power. 

As the nominee of his party for the second great office in the gift 
of the | pie. lie added greatly to his civic fame. The dignify of bis 



Address of Mr. Spooner, of Wisconsin. 51 

bearing, the method and manner of his thought and speech, were 
everywhere a revelation to those who then heard Mm for the first 
time. Other orators have been more finished, but, sir, it is not the 
language of fulsome eulogy to say that, taking John A. Logan all 
in all, he was a great orator, and will be known as such. 

He possessed, also, indisputable claims to high statesmanship. 
Look through the statutes and the records of Congress, and you will 
find there the same impress of his character and individuality. Many 
acts of grave civic consequence he devised and drafted. As a legis- 
lator he was broad-minded and fearless. Neither the love of com- 
mendation nor the fear of criticism swerved him in the least from 
the path blazed out by his convictions. He was ready in debate and 
a dangerous antagonist on the floor of the Senate. 

One cannot fail to notice, looking through the record of his work 
in the National Senate, everywhere the evidence of service rendered 
t o the soldier, and to the soldier's widow and orphan. Every thougl 1 1 
that loving comradeship and appreciation of great service and sacri- 
fice could suggest for the soldier's good you will find at some time 
formulated into statute by his faithful hand. He took it upon him 
as a sacred trust that he should look always to the interest of those 
who with him had stood in the shock of battle. Well may the sur- 
viving soldiers of the Federal Army— now, alas, fast falling by the 
wayside— as they gather around their camp-fires, weep bitter tears 
for the loss of Logan. 

Though a chieftain of his party, he was not narrow or sectional as 
a legislator. He met more than half way those who had but lately 
1 M'en his adversaries on the field of battle. No man more desired the 
restoration of perfect harmony between the sections or the upbuild- 
ing of the waste places of the South or gave readier aid to that great 
consummation. He demanded only in return that every man and 
woman and child, of whatever condition, class, or degree, should 
enjoy unobstructed and in the fullest measure every right given by 
the Constitution and the laws. With less than this he thought it- 
moral treason to he content. 

Logan was a leader by divine right. All the elements combined 
to make him such. Of resistless energy, iron will, knightly daring, 
loftymoral courage, quick and acute intelligence, fervent patriotism. 
unselfish loyalty to principle and friendship, and unswerving honor, 
it is impossible to conceive of him as other than a great leader in 



52 Life and Character of John A. Lagan. 

any field of human effort. Scan his eventful life however critically, 
study the forces which moved him, analyze the characteristics which 
marked him from his fellows, and you will find little indeed of ac- 
cident or adventitious aid in the achievements which will glorify his 
name. It is no marvel that he was a great soldier, or that he was an 
orator of high repute, or that he was conspicuous among the leading 
statesmen of his day, but that he united in himself all of these is 
conclusive of his genius. 

He was, with all his rugged strength of will and bravery and for- 
titude, a sensitive man, easily wounded by a personal or party 
friend. In the retrospect we see now, with unavailing regret, h< >w 
keenly he may have suffered in spirit from what gave us little 
thought or concern. Quick to resent what seemed to him a wrong, 
he was, like all great natures, as quick to forgive and forget. He 
was magnanimous. No manly man found it difficult to repair, with- 
out loss of self-respect, a quarrel with John A. Logan. 

He was, in many ways, a proud man. He carried for a quarter of 
a century upon his body wounds received in battle. He bore, with- 
out complaint, racking pains, born of the privations of the soldier's 
life, of the pelting storm, the comfortless bed upon the frozen earth, 
the cold, wearisome march, the sleepless nights and toilsome days. 
Standing in his place on the Kith of March last, he said : 

I could say— but I dislike to menti.ni myself— that I was entitled to a pension 
early in the war. and have been ever since the war. but I have never asked for it. 
and never expect to. 

Mr. President, we now know that there were times in his later 
years when the days were dark, and when the stress of financial em- 
barrassment pressed him hard, but he was too proud and delicate to 
claim the pension which was his due under the laws which he had 
been so potential in fashioning and in enacting. I hope if the words 
I am about to utter are a sin against the proprieties of this occasion 
that I shall be forgiven; but I do not doubt that as lie stood there, 
announcing to the Senate and to the country his right to a pension, 
he had abiding faith that should lie. in the providence of God, be 

first called, the i pie whom he had served so longand sowell would 

pay. not grudgingly, but as in cheerful payment of a del.t of honor, 
to the womanly woman who in all the years of his growth had kept 
pace with him. who had been his Love, his pride, his companion, thai 
which was his due. hut which he had forborne to claim. 
Thai is not a full tribute to the memory of John A. Logan which 



Address of Mr. Cockrell, of Missouri. 53 

takes no thought of her whose life has been a part of his life and 
whose fame is linked inseparably with his fame. What tenderer, 
sweeter tribute can the American people pay to his memory than to 
place above the calamitous vicissitudes of life the woman who was 
ever by his side, not alone in the hour of triumph but in the hour of 
pain and suffering ; not alone in this beautiful capital city, but in 
the rude hospital on the banks of the distant Western river where 
he lay wounded nigh unto death ? 

He died in the service of his country, and we know from him — for 
he '-'being dead, yet speaketh "— that his strength and vigor were 
sapped and mined by the privations and the wounds of war. 

How difficult it is to think of him as dead ! 

Can that man be dead 
Whose spiritual influence is upon his kind? 
He lives in glory ; and his speaking dust 
Has more of life than half its breathing moulds. 

He will live, sir, in the hearts of men until the history of his time 
shall have faded utterly away. With each returning May, wherever 
there is a soldier's grave— and where is there not a soldier's grave? — 
the people now living and those to come after us will remember the 
name of Logan, the patriot, soldier, orator, and statesman, and will 
bring, in honor of Ins memory, the beautiful flowers of the spring- 
time and the sweet incense of praise and prayer. 



Address of Mr. Cockrell, of Missouri. 

Mr. President: With profound sorrow and deep grief I join in 
paying the last official tribute of respect, honor, friendship, and love 
to the memory of our late distinguished colleague, John Alex- 
ander Logan. 

For the first time, in March. 1875, I had the pleasure and honor of 
his personal acquaintance in this Chamber. 

For the succeed i ag two years, and then from March 4, 1879, to the 
day of his death, I was a member of the Committee on Military 
Affairs, of which he was the honored chairman. Our official and 
personal relations at once became, and uninterruptedly continued, 
most intimate, cordial, and friendly. However widely we may have 
differed upon many questions, I respected, admired, honored, and 



54 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

loved hini for his many noble, manly, generous, magnanimous, and 
chivalrous qualities of head and heart — the distinguishing attributes 
of the true soldier and great man among all nations and tongues. 

It was my sad privilege on December 2G, 1886, at 2.55 p. m., to 
stand at the foot of his bed, and, powerless for relief, to see him 
quietly, peacefully, and unconsciously breathe the last breath of his 
life on earth. 

His deathless soul, freed from its earthly body, racked, tortured, 
ami paralyzed by disease and pain, triumphantly passed through the 
mystic veil intervening between the grievous afflictions and bereave- 
ments of earth and the fullness of joy in the presence and the ever- 
lasting pleasures at the right hand of our Heavenly Father, and 
entered upon its glorious unending life upon the beautiful shores of 
the "bright forever," far, far beyond the touch of disease, suffering, 
or death. 

Now beyond the reach of fulsome praise or eloquent panegyric, 
we can calmly consider his life, and profit therefrom. 

About the year 1823 Dr. John Logan emigrated from Ireland and 
located in Jackson County, Illinois, and there married Miss Elizabeth 
Jenkins. Of this union John Alexander Logan was the first born, 
February 9, 1826, and inherited a robust physical constitution and 
vigorous mind, the richest inheritance bequeathed by parents to 
children. 

In that section of the then West educational advantages were very 
limited, and young Logan was taught at home, and attended the 
common schools of the neighborhood as opportunity offered, and a 
neighboring academy; and by industry, perseverance, and self-reli- 
ance obtained a fair education. 

We see him a young man about twenty years old in his native 
county, without wealth, family distinction, or influential friends to 
aid him, having only the future and its possibilities before him to 
inspire and nerve him for the battles of life, the architect of his own 
fortune, free to plan and execute as he would and could. With 
honesty, determination, and self-reliance he boldly moved forward, 
conscious that "life gives nothing to mortals without greal Labor." 

He enlisted as a private soldier in the First Illinois Regimen! \'<>v 
service in tin' war with Mexico, and became a lieutenant, acting ad- 
jutant, and quartermaster, faithfully discharging his duties. 

Upon the conclusion of peace he returned home with a broader 



Address of Mr. Cockrell, of Missouri. 55 

view of life and laudably increased ambition, and began the study 
of law in the office of his uncle— Hon. A. M. Jenkins— and in 1849 
was elected clerk of the county court of his native county ; served 
as such about one year, then resigned and attended the law school 
of Louisville University, and graduated therefrom in 1851. 

Returning home he entered upon the practice of law with his uncle 
and was elected to the legislature of Illinois in 1852, '53/56, and '.">;. 
and to the office of prosecuting attorney for the third judicial dis- 
trict in 1853. 

In is.",:, In- was married to Miss Mary Cunningham, a most happy 
and fortunate union. In 1856 he was Presidential elector, and cast 
his vote for Buchanan and Breckinridge. In 1858 he was elected a 
Representative in the Thirty-sixth Congress, and in I860 was re- 
elected to the Thirty-seventh Congress, and served his term in the 
Thirty-sixth Congress from March 4. 1859, to March 3, 1861, and en- 
tered upon his term in the Thirty-seventh Congress, and attended 
the called session in 1861. While attending that session he shoul- 
dered his musket as a private soldier in the Second Michigan Volun- 
teers, and marched to and participated in the battle of Bull Run. 
He then resigned his seat in the Thirty-seventh Congress, entered 
the Union Army, raised and was appointed colonel of the Thirty- 
first Regiment Illinois Infantry August 16, 1861, marched to the 
front in the field, and there continued. 

He was promoted to be brigadier-general in March, 1862, and then 
major-general, and commanded successively a regiment, brigade, 
division, an army corps, and the Army of the Tennessee. On Au- 
gust 17, 1865, after full four years' service, he resigned his commis- 
sion as major-general, and was honorably mustered out. He was 
then appointed by President Johnson minister to Mexico, and re- 
signed. 

Returning to the walks of civil life he resumed the practice of law 
in his native Illinois. In 1866 he was elected a Representative at 
large from Illinois to the Fortieth Congress, and re-elected to the 
Forty-first Congress, serving from March 4, 1807, to March :i, 1871, 
and was elected to the Senate of the United States for the term be- 
ginning March 4, 1871 ; and was again elected to the Senate for the 
term beginning March 4, 1870, and re-elected for the succeeding term 
from March 4, 1885, to March •'!, 1891. 



56 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

In 1884 he was the nominee of the National Republican party for 
Vice-President. 

This bird's-eye view of his life-record and services is just suffi- 
ciently distinct and full to enable us to form correct impressions of 
this great man — our lamented colleague in this Chamber. In all 
these varied positions of trust and honor he was, and proved him- 
self to be, honest, determined, self-reliant, faithful, and efficient, and 
the worthy recipient of the friendship and confidence of the people. 

For the length of time devoted to his profession he was a good 
lawyer. 

Among all the many, great, and distinguished volunteer officers 
during the late war, it is no disparagement of any of them to say 
that General Logan was the greatest and most distinguished. Cour- 
ageous, fearless, energetic, untiring, generous, and dashing, he was 
the beau ideal of the American volunteer soldiery. For four long, 
weary years, during the greatest military conflict the world has ever 
beheld, General Logan, as a private soldier, a commander of a reg- 
iment, then of a brigade, then of a division, then of an army corps, 
and then of an army, met and satisfied the highest expectations and 
demands of the administration, the country, and the people. No 
man could do more. As a Representative and Senator in the Congress 
of the United States he was incorruptible, faithful, diligent, and la- 
borious, and was earnest in his convictions and forcible and aggres- 
sive in their advocacy. 

His repeated re-elections to both the House and Senate by the same 
constituency attested their continued friendship and confidence, and 
their approbation of his character and services. In his personal in- 
tercourse he was manly, generous, candid, and sincere. 

As a husband and father he was devoted, faithful, tender, loving, 
and warmly appreciative of the boundless hive ami undying devo- 
tion of his noble wife and dutiful children. As a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church he was "not ashamed of the gospel of 
Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that 
believeth." 

The name, the fame, the life, and the illustrious and successful 
achievements of General Logan arc now the common heritage of 
our great country and people, and will be cherished and remembered 
by the presenl and coming generations. 

Many poor, worthy, and honorably ambitious young men, jnsl en- 



Address of Mr. Frye, of Maine. 57 

tering the arena of active life, faint, weary, and despondent, will 
remember the great disadvantages surrounding General Logan when 
at their age, and then his subsequent illustrious and successful life, 
attained by his honesty, perseverance, and self-reliance, and made 
possible to all by our unequaled systems of government— the best 
ever yet devised by the wisdom of sages or attained by the blood of 
heroes — and will take fresh courage and worthily imitate the illus- 
trious pattern, and make themselves a blessing and honor to country 
and people. 

The life and achievements of Logan, cast upon the bosom of the 
public life in the United States, have started waves of influence and 
power for good which will widen and extend until they break against 
the shores of eternity in the resurrection morning. 



Address of Mr. Frye, of Maine. 

Mr. President : Senators have brought to-day, and will bring, 
garlands and wreaths with which to decorate the grave of our dead 
soldier and Senator. I shall content myself with offering a single 
flower. 

Logan was an honest man. I do not mean by that simply that he 
would not steal, that he would not hear false witness, that he had 
not an itching palm for a bribe. If this were all, he would not 1 »e 
unlike every man I have been associated with in both Houses of 
Congress during a sixteen years' service, nor essentially different, in 
my opinion, from a large majority of his fellow-citizens. 

Sir, the press, very generally and occasionally an eulogist to-day, 
in assigning to General Logan this admirable quality of character, 
have contracted and dwarfed it, have seemed to make money its 
measure, by producing as evidence in its support the fact that he 
had served long in public life and died poor. The Senator from 
Missouri has just said that he was poor, that he was incorruptible. 
I trust, sir, that the same honesty and incorruptibility may truth- 
fully be ascribed to every Senator within the sound of my voice, to 
every member of the two Houses. Is there any necessary connec- 
tion between honesty and poverty ? Is the one the logical sequence 
of the other ? Are dishonesty and wealth in copartnership ? I have 



58 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

been taught to believe, and do believe, that honesty is the broadest, 
safest, and surest pathway to prosperity. 

I do not regard it as eulogistic of this great man to say that he 
was honest in that narrow sense. I do not cripple my declaration 
by any such limitation, nor sustain it by any such questionable tes- 
timony. I mean that General Logan had an honest mind, an honest 
purpose, an honest habit of thinking. I mean that he never played 
tricks with his mental machinery to serve his own ends and his own 
purposes. I mean that he never attempted jugglery with it, I 
mean that he permitted it, in spite of his ambitions, his prejudices, 
his jealousies, and his passions, to move straight forward in its opera- 
tions ; and that the legitimate results were convictions— convictions 
followed always by earnest, determined, intense action. In my 
opinion that largely constituted General Logan's strength in the 
Senate, in the Army, and with the people. 

Let me illustrate by a few brief incidents of his life. He was living 
in Southern Illinois, where there was little if any anti-slavery senti- 
ment, at a time when slavery was never more firmly established by 
enactment of law and judicial decision, at the time when it was arro- 
gant and aggressive in its demands. Yet Logan stemmed the cur- 
rent, disregarded his own apparent self-interest, and resisted the de- 
mands. He was associated with a party whose shibboleth was State 
rights, whose overshadowing fear was centralization of power in the 
National Government ; and when that doctrine culminated in seces- 
sion lie (In >pped it at once forever and tendered his sword to the threat- 
ened and imperiled Republic. 

War came on. He believed that war was a serious fact ; that it 
was to lie waged for the suppression of rebellion and the restoration 
of the Union. Hence in every council of war his voice was always 
fur battle, and in every battle he was ever at the front. 

Some of the prominent officers were Eor temporising, were studying 
political enigmas, were nursing Presidential aspirations, were casting 
obstacles in the way of supposed rivals. LOGAN never swerved to 
the righl nor to the left, but pressed ever straightforward to thegoal 
of ultimate victory. 

When in the midst of the war preferment was off ered him. aye. 
more, urged upon him by his friends, he did not hesitate a moment, 
but with emphasis declared tothem that he had enlisted for the war, 
and that, God helping him. he would light it out on that line to the 



Address of Mr. Frye, of Maine. 59 

end. When he was superseded, as he believed unjustly, as has been 
well said to-day, he did not sulk in his tent a single hour, but marched 
straight forward in the line of duty. 

When the war was over, the Union was restored and peace was 
enthroned, and a grateful people showered upon him public honors 
he exhibited everywhere the same characteristics. Take the case 
which has been alluded to here to-day of General Porter. Logan 
believed, whether justly or unjustly is not for me now to say, that 
this man was jealous of his superiors, that criticisms and complaints 
subversive of discipline were made by him, that he neglected plain 
and open duty, that he refused to obey peremptory orders, and that 
his punishment was just. In this Chamber we listened to his match- 
less, marvelous, powerful, convincing speech against his restoration ; 
and when his great captain, with a voice infinitely more powerful 
with this soldier hero than the glittering bribes of gold or of fame, 
called him to a halt he did not hesitate a moment, but with renewed 
vigor, with redoubled power, urged his convictions upon the Senate. 

We all remember perfectly well that Logan knew his comrades 
saved the Republic, and in season and, as many thought, out of sea- 
son, he was ready to propose and to advocate any measure for their 
relief that commended itself to his judgment, not taking for a 
moment into account any public sentiment that might be hostile. 

When his great commander was for a third time urged by his 
friends for the candidacy by the Republican party for the office of 
President, and it was apparent to all thinking men that it was to be 
a, struggle fierce, full of intense bitterness, Logan went to the front 
in that fight utterly regardless of any effect that it might have upon 
his own political fortunes. 

I have seen within a few days an item floating in the press that in 
that ever to be remembered convention, when it was apparent that 
Mr. Blaine could not be nominated, Senators Hale and Frye visited 
General Logan and tendered to him the support of their friends for 
the nomination if he would accept the candidacy. Of course it was 
a myth. Senators Hale and Frye both knew John A. Logan, and 
had known him for years, and even if they had been vested with 
the authority, which they were not, they never would have dreamed 
of undertaking to bribe him from his allegiance. They knew that 
no gratification of personal ambition (and it is the greatest tempta- 
tion to a man on earth) would move him from his allegiance to 



60 



Life and Character of John A. Logan. 



Grant in that fight any more than a summer breeze would stir a 
mountain from its base. 

Sir, when subsequently Logan himself justly had aspirations for 
the same nomination, I sat here in this seat by the side of that which 
now is empty a curious observer, and I dare assert that I never saw 
him trim his sail in the slightest. I never could perceive that the 
fact made any change in his thought or word or vote. 

About that time the Republican national committee met here in 
Washington to determine upon the time of holding the convention 
and to settle upon the basis of representation. Logan was present. 
A delegate from one of the Territories raised the question about Ter- 
ritorial representation, and insisted that his Territory must have 
three delegates in that convention, and that it was the duty of that 
committee to increase the representation of the Territories generally. 
As he was closing his speech he turned to Logan and significantly 
said, ' ' Candidates for the Presidency had better take notice. " Logan 
sprang to his feet in the twinkling of an eye and boldly denounced 
the whole system of Territorial representation in national conven- 
tions as unjustifiable, utterly oblivious of the fact that perhaps he 
was hazarding that marvelous prize for which he was then con- 
tending. 

Mr. President, there is not a Senator within the sound of my voice, 
and there are Senators here who have served in the councils of the 
nation many years with John A. Logan, who ever knew him to hes- 
itate or waver in or shrink from any expression of opinion as to any 
subject under consideration; who ever knew him to avoid a vote: 
who ever suspected him of taking any account whatsoever of what 
effect his words or his acts woidd have upon his own personal or 
political fortunes. There is not a Senator within the sound of my 
voice who, when Logan had expressed his opinions, the result of his 
convictions, ever dreamed that lie was not entirely, faultlessly sin- 
cere in the expression. 

■ Mr. President, LOGAN was a fearlessly honest man. May our dear 
Lord give him a blessed vest and a glorious immortality. [Mani- 
festations of applause in the galleries.] 



Address of Mr. Plumb, of Kansas. 61 



Address of Mr. Plumb, of Kansas. 

Mr. President : It is one of the chief excellencies of our institu- 
tions that no man, however exalted in station, great in intellect, or 
rich in graces of character, is indispensable to their security, growth, 
and permanence. Where rank comes by inherit;! nee, and the es- 
sence as well as the symbols of authority is transmitted from gener- 
ation to generation, a single life often stands as the only barrier 
against threatened revolution or anarchy. 

How diff erent here ! Great characters, in whom center the affec- 
tions of the people and the forces of the State, pass from the current 
speech of men into the repose of history, while the state itself, dom- 
inated by the popular will and secure in the popular affection, gives 
no pause to its beneficent progress nor relaxes the least of its neces- 
sary functions. 

Garfield — himself destined to succeed to the station as well as the 
martyrdom of Lincoln — upon the assassination of his immortal 
predecessor, gave utterance to a sentiment as significant as it was 
eloquent : "The President is dead ; but, thank God, the Government 
at Washington still lives." 

This consideration by no means implies inadequate appreciation 
of the illustrious men who have gone from among us. It is rather 
an added tribute to them that the Government had received no detri- 
ment at their hands, but had been so strengthened by their patriotic 
solicitude, shared by the great average of their fellow-citizens, that 
it was made capable of passing unharmed through the severest crises. 

We do not honor Lincoln less because when his unrivaled author- 
ity was paralyzed by death the good ship of state under other con- 
trol and guided by Providence passed safely through the perils of 
the time into the serene anchorage of restored peace and prosperity. 
Grant, the greatest hero in our military annals, breathed out his 
life amid the mountain pines, and the orderly progress of the great 
affairs of state, over which he had so faithfully presided, was only 
temporarily suspended by the universality of public and private 
sorrow. 

Logan has gone from among us to return no more. Another sits 
in his place. The burden and responsibilities which he bore so well 
and discharged with so much acceptance have fallen upon other 



62 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

shoulders. The Senate, permanent in its organization, and renewed 
from time to time, continues its round of duties, sustained against 
she >ck and disaster. 

Yet Logan will not be forgotten. No individual, no association 
of men is proof against the salutary teachings of example. Others 
among us may have excelled our dead friend in some of the qualities 
which are combined in true statesmanship, but who will deny to him 
those rare gifts and virtues which make their possessor conspicuous 
anywhere ? 

His zeal was restless, his energy intense, his industry tireless, his 
intellect clear and incisive, his courage unshaken in any and every 
circumstance, his loyalty to truth and duty undoubted, and his fidel- 
ity to friendships, in these days of self-seeking, almost phenomenal. 
Always impetuous, sometimes impatient in controversy, his nature 
was ardent without rancor, and in private and social life he was sunny 
and persiiasive. 

General Logan's speech was vigorous and forceful. He subordi- 
nated the graces of rhetoric to the logical results sought to be com- 
passed. The pith and marrow of his discourse was seldom embellished 
by fanciful allusions or poetic imagery. His weapons of debate com- 
ported with his rugged, practical nature, and challenged the judg- 
ment rather than the fancy and the imagination. Beyond all and 
above all his candor and sincerity were so evident that no one ven- 
tured to question them. 

He was a zealous friend and a sturdy opponent. His blows were 
delivered in honorable fashion, and those he received in like manly 
controversy were accepted in a chivalrous spirit. 

It was the crowning felicity of his association with us that, as the 
n lost conspicuous of our volunteer soldiery during the war of the 
rebellion, he became the special chain j lion of the interests of notonly 
his immediate comrades in the field, but of all who had helped to bear 
the flag of the Union through trials ami discouragements to final 
victory. With what fidelity and energy this sacred trust was dis- 
charged the Senate and the country alike bear witness. 

It is given to Imt few to so happily unite in their own experience 
heroic martial achievements with eminent civic successes. Yet lie 
bore his accumulated honors mildly, and delighted more in the calm 
content of his home and fireside than in the loiid acclaim of men. It 
will lie une of I he must grateful remembrances of him who has gone 



Address of Mr. Evarts, of New York. G3 

that what he became he owed to his own exertions. No man of his 
time more strikingly illustrated the beneficence of a Government 
which, looking for its support and maintenance to people of all con- 
ditions, pursuits, and beliefs, offers its honors and its trusts to the 
competition of all, 

Logan fought his own way, won his own victories, made his own 
fame secure. 

Scrutinizing the list of those who, emerging from comparative 
obscurity, have contributed the noblest service to the Republic and 
made themselves a record for immortality, the name of Logan will 
be found written not far below those of Lincoln and Grant, 



Address of Mr. Evarts, of New York. 

We are collected here to-day, Mr. President, neither to bury nor 
to praise the soldier and Senator whose life, in its full luster and at 
its zenith, was so lately eclipsed before our eyes by the impenetrable 
veil of death. Not to bury him, for his obsequies have been cele- 
brated with all the observance that admiration of his career, applause 
for his conduct, reverence for his love and labors for his country, 
and affection for those humble, common traits that affect, as with a, 
touch of kin, all who love the character in the home which this our 
friend manifested in all his life. Not to praise him, for we do not 
need to display, and we have no power to enhance, his fame. 

It is that we and the communities that we may speak for are to 
associate ourselves and them, in this hour, to recall with new enforce- 
ment his relation to the public life of this country, the benefits that 
he has conferred, and the power he is yet to exert over them in the 
future. 

It cannot. I believe, be doubted that at every stage of General 
Logan's life he was a capital figure in his own share of public power 
and influence, and in the recognized estimate of his countrymen of 
that position. 

If in the first few months of the opening struggle, after lie had 
taken his position in animating, arousing, confirming the movement 
of this people to sustain the Government, if in the first battle a bul- 
let had ended his life, Logan" would have been a capital figure in the 
memory of that great scene and on that great theater. If in his 



64 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

military career, commemorated and insisted upon so well, at any 
pause in his advance lie had fallen in this battle or that battle, he 
would have been a capital figure in that scene and on that theater. 
And if at the end of the war, when the roll was made up of the 
heroes, and he then had not moved before this great people in any 
subsequent career, the angel of death had then taken away his life, 
he would have been a capital figure in the whole glory of that war. 

And, Mr. President, in the great civic labors and dangers that at- 
tended the rearrangement of our political and social condition in this 
country, consequent upon the war, if that share and if that part of 
his career had been the only one to be commemorated, he would have 
been a capital figure in that. But when these strifes were composed 
and the country was knit together in allegiance and loyalty to the 
Government he loved and served, he thenceforward in this Chamber 
had presented for the record of his life only what should have been 
manifested and known and observed here, he would have been a 
capital figure in that single scene and theater. 

"We therefore must agree in what in his lifetime and so recently 
now after his death meets a universal concurrence, that he was of the 
citizen soldiers of this great nation the greatest, and that of that 
class of citizen soldiers that were numbered among statesmen he was 
the greatest of statesmen, and we must confess that on this larger 
area he still remains a capital figure which could be missed from no 
narrative of the story of his life. 

Mr. President, it has been said by a profound political philosopher, 
applied to a condition of political life not far different from our own. 
that by whatever path great places are to be gained in public life in 
the opinion and support of the community, that path will be trod. 
If it be an honorable path, if it be of uprightness and openness and 
straightforwardness of conduct and of character that these high 
places are to be gained, then that path will be trod. Ami what bet- 
ter encomium upon his own path, what more creditable to our people's 
estimate and their own approval upon this or that path in public 
life, than that General Logam by the path that lie pursued, never in 
ambush, never in devious paths, never agitated about his own repu- 
tation, and never defaming that of others, led on in a path that 
brought him up to the highest distinction and lias left him this cap- 
ital figure in the memory of all his countrymen. 

In every form of popular inlluenceon the largest scale, near to the 



Address of Mr. Sabin, of Minnesota. 65 

topmost of the culminating crown of a people's glory to the fame of 
one of their citizens, he was before us in the most recent contest for 
the Presidency. He. at the moment that he died, was held, in the 
judgment of his countrymen, among the very foremost for the future 
contest. And this illustration of his distinction knows no detraction, 
no disparagement, no flaw touching the very heart and manhood of 
his life and character. 

Let us. then, applaud our people and applaud this great character 
as being a just answer to much of the contumely and opprobrium 
that is aimed at the public life of this country. I can find no capital 
figure in the politics of other nations that more plainly shows that 
this is a path of honor, and in the sunlight, that arrives at the final 
glory of its consummation. 

Mr. President, for some imperfection of our nature, which we can- 
not lay aside, it is said that the fullness of the heart and of admira- 
tion cannot wholly show itself. 

Till the sacred dust of death is shed 

On each dear and reverend head, 

Nor love the living as we love the dead. 

If it be so. nevertheless it is a part of our nature that when thus 
liberated from the threat and fear and competition of the living, 
nevertheless after this obscuration is removed, it is an honest and 
not a vague and extravagant judgment that gives due prominence to 
the life and character and removes the shade. 

Mr. President, the looms of time are never idle, and the busy 
fingers of the fates are ever weaving, as in a tapestry, the many 
threads and colors that make up our several lives, and when these 
are. exposed to critics and to admirers there shall be found few of 
brighter colors or of nobler pattern than this life of General Logan. 



Address of Mr. Sabin, of Minnesota. 

Mr. President : The melancholy event which engages the atten- 
tion of the Senate on this occasion accords with the course of nature, 
and must in due time overtake us all. 

While no man may hope successfully to contend against like con- 
sequence, our interest therein but increases as we near it. 

This interest, however, as it concerns another, is chiefly retro- 
spective. 

5 L 



66 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

The death of one having occupied so important a place in the 
service and affections of the public as General Logan naturally 
leads to a survey of his life, and an inquiry into those personal qual- 
ities that molded his being into whatever fullness and roundness of 
outline it possessed. And I am pleased to find so many members of 
this body qualified with familiarity with General Logan's public and 
private life, and knowledge of the mainsprings of his conduct, who 
are ready to venture into this field of inquiry with a spirit of generous 
consideration to which his memory is conspicuously entitled. 

Hence, I approach with great diffidence so delicate a task, offering 
as my only excuse my personal admiration, esteem, and love for one 
of the best of men and noblest of characters. I shall, therefore, at- 
tempt to treat the subject more from a personal standpoint and my 
own impressions and experiences. 

The personal and public history of General Logan is of that 
marked character, and so far-reaching in its proportions, that it is 
impossible to encompass it within the tribute which the present oc- 
casion permits. I leave especially the history of his marked and 
brilliant military career, his devotion, services, and friendships to 
his comrades in arms during and since the war, to those who were 
with him in service during that long and sanguinary struggle, and 
who know so well how to speak of his labors, and his victories. 

To follow the career of a life having within its bounds such a 
range of developments, and marked by so many acts which stand 
out in bold relief upon the panorama of our national progress, 
would require a latitude embracing space and time only to be cov- 
ered through the compilation of volumes. 

This session of the Senate has been dedicated to the offering of a 
tribute to him who but recently sat with us in council, and who, it 
is entirely within the limits of moderation to say. lias left a stamp 
upon the public affairs of our country during the period of his life 
which time will not efface while the Republic endures. The name 
of General John A. Logan is at once a glory to the American peo- 
ple and anatural heritage to future generations. He was a Colossus 
am. mg the giants of American history. The impress of his individ- 
uality and genius must remain upon the institutions for the perpe- 
tuity and perfecting of which the lives of Washington, of Hamilton. 
of Jefferson, of Sumner, of Lincoln, and of Grant were dedicated 

Long before I had personal acquaintance with General Logan Ins 



Address of Mr. Sabin, of Minnesota. 67 

name and fame had become an object of interest and pride to me in 
common with all other American citizens. 

I think it was General Logan's attitude at the outbreak of the 
rebellion that first directed the attention of the public to him. A 
Douglas Democrat, he shared the confidence of that great leader. 

During the troublesome period intervening the first victory of the 
Republican party in the election of Lincoln and the bombardment of 
Sumter. Logan found his path of duty in companionship with life- 
long political associates, struggling in the fruitless endeavor to resist 
one of the greatest evolutionary movements of a people of which 
history speaks— a movement characterized by those who participate! 
therein in terms appropriate to mere civil strife, but which, in secur- 
ing for us a more perfect Union, may be discovered at this day to 
have been an evolutionary development of the Constitution. 

In those days the mists which lowered in the political sky obscured 
the vision of our wisest men. But the fall of Sumter, like a f < ig- 
horn at sea, determined the course of Logan. For him party 
machinery had been a means of directing the united efforts of citi- 
zens sharing the same views of public polity. To divert the mech- 
anism to other purposes was to release him from party fealty. The 
Union was to him the paramount good, and party but a means of 
accomplishing it. 

That great chieftain, with palsied speech, and death seeking to 
arrest his hand, determinedly wrote the imperishable "memoirs." 
and deliberately recorded the first results of General Logan's exam- 
ple upon the people of Southern Illinois. "As a result of Logan's 
speech at Springfield." writes General Grant, "every man enlisted 
for the war." What a glorious tribute did that great man thus 
render to the noble character whose memory we honor to-day. 

Loyalty to the Union left Logan no alternative, and he accepted 
it with a resoluteness of purpose not afterward shaken. 

Logan's life-current flowed a steady, strong stream: and once 
directed against the forces of disunion, nothing could satisfy his 
ambitious courage but the heat and labor of the day in the forefront 
of the battle. Here, to the fullness of every patriot's hope. Logan 
served his country. Here, amid all the horrors of four long years of 
civil strife, Logan's character received those deep impressions whirl] 
so intensified his subsequent utterances and lent vehemence t< > much 
of his after life. 



(58 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

Comradeship in the perils of battle was ever to him an all-sufficient 
claim upon his utmost service, and the genius of our institutions so 
molded his conduct toward all classes of people that his sympathy, 
with an appreciative comprehension of their situation and wants, 
secured for him their utmost confidence and esteem as a tribute of 
the people. 

Logan's opportunity for serving his country was not closed at 
Appomattox. 

The restoration of the reign of law in those regions long domi- 
nated by the force of arms, the readjustment of those communities 
in their relations as members of the Union, the formulation of legal 
enactments demanded by the elevation of the black man into the 
light and liberty of American citizenship, the whole scheme of 
national restoration and civil rehabilitation known as "the period 
of reconstruction," called for ability equal in importance to the 
demands of civil strife. In this new field was General Logan found 
the constant, effective, and honored representative of the people, and 
the sturdy champion of the most effective measures calculated to 
secure for the entire country the benefits of a restored Union. 

For over twenty years the untiring industry and the genius of Gen- 
eral Logan as a statesman is recorded on almost every page of the 
records of the House of Representatives or of this Senate; and it is 
a fact perhaps not generally known that General Logan originated 
and introduced more public measures than any other member; and 
we, his colleagues upon this floor, are familiar with that record, 
which is destined to grow brighter and more legible with the lapse 
of time. 

Such was the openness and simplicity of his character, and the 
candor of his demeanor, that those differing most from him in con- 
viction were the first to yield him that respect and regard due and 
given only to real nobility of character. 

Logan's character presents three distinct aspects — that which 
relates to his career and services as a soldier, that which considers 
his eminent ability and services as a statesman, and that which per- 
tains to his whole career, from the growth of the boy to the lamented 
death of an honored man. It is presented not only to the people of 
America but to the whole civilized people as a bright example to be 
held up to the illumination as well as emulation of every youth 
beginning bis struggle with the world. 



Address of Mr. Sabin, of Minnesota. 69 

But who shall be able to do justice within the limits of a few min- 
utes' eulogium to the brilliant record of a soldier who abandoned re- 
lations of family, kindred, and friends, of party popularity, array- 
ing bitter hostilities to himself, and throws his whole energy with all 
the power of his vigorous young manhood and enthusiasm against 
the armed enemy of his country. During the storm of misrepre- 
sentation which always assails a man of such marked character, the 
sublime heroism of General Logan's first act in that dreadful ordeal 
through which our country passed, has not yet received that appre- 
ciation which time and a considerate people will give it. 

The popular idol of his party in a State of supreme importance 
during that crisis to the Union cause, recently elected after conduct- 
ing a brilliant campaign by a large majority over his party oppo- 
nent, with youth and strength, rare intellectual endowment as his 
heritage, let it be considered for a single moment what would have 
been the consequence if he with all his power and enthusiastic fol- 
lowing had clung to the party of disunion. No man at this day can 
do more than form a conjecture of the terrible disaster which might 
have followed such an event. 

Happily for the American Union, no such contingency was possi- 
ble in the character of General Logan. In elevating him to honor 
and power the constituency then at his back had ''sowed better than 
they knew."' With a rare self-abnegation and devotion to his coun- 
try, he resigned political position, and offered his services as a sol- 
dier, in any rank, to his imperiled Government. Thousands upon 
thousands rushed to the defense in that hour of national danger, 
and every honor is due them all. While the brilliant military genius 
of General Logan, confessedly the greatest volunteer soldier of his 
or any other time, served his country with patriotic force upon the 
field of battle, yet the influence of his example in its effects upon an 
element which he undoubtedly turned from service against the Gov- 
ernment seems, viewed from a dispassionate standpoint of subse- 
quent developments, almost like a miraculous interposition in the 
affairs of men. 

Others upon this floor have touched in flowery words and beauti- 
ful phrases upon these portions of our departed colleague's career, 
and I will only add the brief and feeling tribute of another to his 
military genius : 

Closing his career as a solder at the end of the war in command of that army 
he loved bo well, and whose devotion to him was bo enthusiastic .and unparalleled, 



70 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

in th ■ temple of fame, in the great galaxy of heroes, pure and bright as the sun. 
firm and solid as the foundation of freedom, will John A. Logan forever stand. 
A soldier of transcendent military genius, a fearless, skillful, and accomplished 
leader, a peer among the commanders of armies, his name will go down to histi iry 
the synonym of purity, loyalty, and patriotism. 

Let me in brief terms refer to those traits of character which must 
ever be held as shining examples to the youth of the land. 

General Logan was born and reared under adverse circumstances 
of an early Western frontier life. In his day there was none of the 
educational advantages possessed by the youth of the present time. 
Born in a cabin, his youth was passed in the hard labors of farm 
life. The few months of winters' schooling were assiduously utilized 
by the boy whom nature had marked for a brilliant future. But the 
ambitious youth was not content with these meager advantages. 
After the toils of the day were over and when the youths of his age 
were enjoying the pleasures of a social country existence young 
Logan was poring over books in his father's cabin and drawing 
from the fountain of knowledge by the aid of a tallow clip and blaz- 
ing fire in the old-fashioned log fire-place. 

Less than a half century ago the man whose loss is now mourned 
by the millions of America's freemen might be seen as a boy lying 
on the floor of his father's cabin, illuminated only by a flickering 
light, eagerly scanning his books in his thirst for knowledge, and 
intent upon an education which fitted him for that career he after- 
wards achieved. . No more interesting picture can be placed before 
the youths of America than that which is thus presented by the am- 
bitious genius, asserting itself and achieving its destiny through 
adverse conditions and surroundings. 

Fixing a standard of excellence high in the ideas of men, our dead 
colleague sought to reach the stars through almost insurmountable 
difficulties. Thr< nigh a long and useful life he maintained principles 
which he had cultivated in youth : and amid all the brilliancy of his 
ser\ Lee in field and forum he left an untainted and unstained private 
and public character. 

What an eulogy is this brief and simple announcement ! A man 
enjoying unlimited opportunities that place and power conferred 
upon those of such strength of leadership, moving through an orbit 
of public functions for a whole generation, resisting the blandish- 
ments of wealth, faithfully serving his country, and in the end sink- 
ing to his rest poor in purse, though enormously rich in all of the 



Address of Mr. Sabin, of Minnesota. 71 

virtues which ennoble humanity ; indeed, this is a spectacle which 
must claim the admiration of the pure and the good. General Logan 
was a pure man and a good man. 

A Christian gentleman, a man of temperate, simple, and frugal 
habits, his private life was spotless. No man living ever dared to 
approach him with a corrupt proposal. 

It was indeed fitting that such qualities should have led the Repub- 
lican party to honor itself by honoring him with the nomination of 
Vice-President, a nomination that added great strength to the ticket. 
and will ever be regarded as a wise and considerate act. 

It is a common observation that General Logan was an ardent 
partisan. If by that expression is meant that he ardently devoted 
himself to the success of his party, it is doubtless true ; but he was 
not a blind partisan. That he looked to his duty to the country, 
sufficiently appears from his whole public life. Such partisanship 
represents the high pride of American citizenship, and by it Logan 
has been raised to an exalted place in the hearts of the people. It is 
an open secret, but not a matter of public history, and therefore not 
generally known, that General Logan left his command in the field 
at the request of President Lincoln to bear a conspicuous part in the 
political campaigns during the darkest days of our Republic. In the 
light of these accusations of partisanship, let me ask you to observe 
carefully his generous and kindly sentiments in the eloquent appeal 
to his fellow-citizens in that famous speech at Chicago in 1S63 : 

Under circumstances of this character, and surrounde 1 by the perils that have 
heretofore been strangers to us. it behooves every citizen to pause and reflect : to 
divest himself of all manner of prejudices, and to ask himself without regard to 
former party associations what duty he owes to himself, to his country, and to 
future generations. It makes no difference that you may have been a Democrat, a 
Republican, or an Abolitionist, this Government was established by your fathers 
for you ; it is a sacred trust committed to you ; the laws have been enacted by the 
people for themselves and their protection, and no one can escape the duty he owes 
to the Government to reverence its Constitution, to yield a respectful obedience to 
its laws. * * * 

May our untarnished escutcheon kiss every breeze that is wafted from the balmy 
waters of the South to the frozen regions of the North, or that comes from t lie 
golden plains of the far West to mingle with those in the East. May it be unfurled 
in honor and pride upon every ocean where civilization has penetrated, and stand 
side by side with the banners of the proudest empires of the earth. 

An inscrutable Providence has removed a great and good man, and 
the memories which cluster about his name as a member of this body 
are so fresh and personal that we can scarcely realize the great loss 



72 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

which this Senate and country have sustained; but his useful life and 
shining example are left to guide the feet of coming generations. 

His form we shall see no more, but his work and his character are 
ours forever ; the body is dead, but the spirit lives — 

For there is no death ; the stars go down 

To shine on a fairer shore. 
And bright in heaven's jeweled crown 

They shine forever more. 

More fitting words cannot be said of our dear friend and lamented 

associate than his own touching and eloqixent tribute to the memory 

of the immortal Lincoln : 

Yes, his sun has set forever ; loyalty's gentle voice can no longer wake thrills of 
joy along the tuneless chords of his moldering heart ; yet patriots and lovers of 
liberty who still linger on the shores of time rise and bless his memory ; and millions 
yet unborn will in after times rise to deplore his death and cherish as a household 
word his deathless name. 



Address of Mr. Palmer, of Michigan. 

Mr. President : When the news reached me many thousand miles 
from here that General Logan was dead, I felt that something more 
than a great man had passed away. I felt that a great impelling 
force — a bulwark whose resistance had been never overcome — a co- 
hesive power which bound together many atoms which otherwise 
would have been unrelated — had been eclipsed. 

Among the many prominent characters that have come before the 
public gaze in the last twenty-five years he can be assigned to no 
secondary place. Born in the then far West, where advantages were 
few, he had developed from within. He had evolved what was in- 
volved. All that he appeared to be he was. His nature could not 
tolerate meretricious aids if proffered. If he had been caught in the 
eddies and cyclones of the French Revolution he would have been 
Danton's coadjutor, if not Danton himself ; Danton the furious, the 
generous, the unrestrainable, the untamed. His motto would have 
been as was that of his prototype, to dare, and by that sign he would 
have saved his country if human power could have availed. Placed 
in another environment, inspired by oilier traditions, his daring was 
none the less conspicuous, and he was none the less abactor in that 
memorable conflict which unified his native land. 



Address of Mr. Palmer, of Michigan. 73 

Born in Switzerland he would have been a Winkelried or an Hi ifer, 
had the exigencies of the times demanded. 

If there is to be a type of the Caucasian race to be known distinct- 
ively as the American, it will have as its substructure spiritually the 
pronounced traits which have made the name of Logan famous — 
directness of aim, intrepidity of spirit, honesty of purpose, generos- 
ity for the vanquished, tenderness for the weak, and catholicity of 
feeling for all. Some of these qualities were at times obscured in 
him because of the intensity of his nature, which subordinated all 
things to the demands of the time and occasion. 

He detested pretense. He denuded shams. He projected himself 
with such force that to me he seemed to have the dual nature of the 
catapult and the missile which it throws. 

Others have spoken of his military career, of how he learned tac- 
ics and the manual at the camion's mouth, of his legislative career 
with all the honor that attaches thereto ; all this has become history. 
He enjoys the proud distinction not only of military leadership, 
which he achieved in common with others, but of that of a leader 
and controller of the minds of men. 

The spirit, the lire, the intensity, the insight, the fortitude which 
made him effective at the head of his legions were none the less 
potent when the sword was turned into the pruning-hook and mate- 
rial force had been supplanted by legislative methods. 

My acquaintance with General Logan was confined to the last 
three years of his life, but I had known him ever since that fateful 
day when with his leader he was about to move on the enemy's works 
at Donelson. I had watched him at Vicksburg— on the march to 
Atlanta. I had followed him to the field, when, recovering from his 
wounds, he met his corps as it struck the sea on that dramatic march 
winch captured the minds of men by the mystery which hung over 
it, the uncertainty of its outcome, the brilliancy of its execution, 
and the plenitude of its results. I heard of him again in the Senate. 
I saw him in defeat and always without variableness or shadow 
of turning. His face as a subaltern was as firmly fixed on the objec- 
tive point as if he had been in command. He was no Achilles, 
furious in action, who could permit his bosom friend and thousands 
of his fellows to perish that he in his tent might nurse and enjoy his 
wrath. 



74 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

Hewas a partisan ; but lie was a partisan because he was a patriot. 
He did not " narrow his mind and give up to party what was meant 
for mankind,'* but he stuck to his party because it was good his 
sword Excalibar, with which he hoped to hew down giant wrongs and 
to accomplish great results for his fellow-man. 

He was direct ; with the eye of a soldier, and not through the 
lens of the schoolman, he saw the weak spot in the enemy's line 
and threw all he had and all he hoped for upon the salient point. 
His purpose did not "lose the name of action" by collateral issues. 
The side-tracks which divert or distract the philosophic or the less 
earnest might as well have not existed as far as their effect on him 
was concerned. 

He was honest — not in the vulgar sense that he was unpurchasable 
with money — that goes without saying — but he had fixed views of 
right and wrong, and before the tribunal of his conscience he deter- 
mined his course where the ways divided. 

He was intrepid ; his temper, iron-like, grew by blows, and in de- 
bate, as in the field, opposing forces stimulated and sustained. 

He was generous ; and although at times his indignation at real 
or supposed wrongs spurred him to extremity, I never knew him 
to treasure up a hatred. 

I was thrown with him during the last Presidential contest for a 
season in my own State. The canvass was bitter and exhaiisting. 
His capacity for work then illustrated was marvelous. The methods 
by which he reached the hearts of the people were spontaneous, 
subtle, and effective. His progress was an ovation. He never ap- 
peared without evoking the most rapturous applause, and he never 
disappointed expectation. He carried about him an atmosphere 
that attracted and cemented men to him. The secret Avas he was 
en rapport with the heart of humanity. No man so low but felt 
he was a brother, no man so high but felt he was his peer. 

In the Senate he united the valor of the soldier and the temper of 
the legislator to the tenderness of the child with its quick resent- 
ments quickly set aside. 

The last time I saw my friend he was at the head of a cavalcade at 
one .if the fairs of our country. He had been impressed for the oc- 
casion and compelled to serve. He was the cynosure of all eyes. 
The men cheered, the women waved their handkerchiefs, and the 
children loaded him with flowers. It was as much a triumphal 



Address of Mr. Palmer, of Michigan. 75 

march as ever went up the sacred way with captives from remotest 
Gaul. 

But one short year ago he helped to lay away his leader and friend 
in his narrow cell mid all the pomp and circumstance which people 
love to lavish on their heroic dead. Summoned by the same bugle- 
call to duty upon earth — the trumpet that shall call the one to re- 
newed effort in the great hereafter will rouse the other to share his 
labors, his joys, and his triumphs. He has fought the good fight ; 
he has finished his course. 

If in another age, under other conditions, he had died, like Danton, 
on a scaffold raised by those whom he had helped to save, he would 
have said, as Danton said to his friend when the mob were howling 
for his blood, "Heed not that vile canaille, my friend " ; and again, 
as he stepped upon the scaffold, "0 my wife, my well beloved" ; 
and I believe the historian would have said of him, as of Danton, 
" No hollow formalist, deceptive and self-deceptive, ghastly to the 
natural sense, was this ; but a very man— with all his dross he was 
a man, fiery real from the great fire bosom of nature herself." 

If, like Sidney, wounded and dying, he had lain upon the battle- 
field he would have been equal to the re-enactment of the story which 
has made Sidney's name a sweet savor unto Christendom. 

But Providence had reserved him for a kindlier fate. The hand 
of affection cooled his brow, and his eye had lost its speculation and 
the ear its sensibility before the tears and moans of those he loved 
attested that the strong man had at last met a power that was 
silently, speedily, surely bearing him to the dark house and the 
long sleep. 

Amid the many heroic figures which stand out on the luminous 
background of the past quarter of a century none will be regarded 
with more affection and interest than that sturdy and intrepid form 
portrayed in silhouette, clear cut and pronounced in its outlines as 
in its mental traits. 

Happy the State which has borne such a citizen. Thrice happy 
the people who, appreciating Ids virtues, shall give him a place in 
tin' Valhalla of her heroes for the encouragement and inspiration of 
the youth of the future. 



76 Life and Character of Joint A. Logan. 



Address of Mr. Farwell, of Illinois. 

Mr. President : After the many eloquent words which have been 
said upon this mournful occasion, I feel that any word which I could 
say would be idle and vain. 

General Logan was the bravest of soldiers, an able statesman, and 
an honest man. 

No higher tribute can be paid to man than this, and this is the 
offering which I bring. The late President of the United States, 
General Grant, said to me that General Logan's great services to 
his country should never be forgotten. In battle always brave, never 
faltering, always ready. 

He is greatest who serves his country best. And shall we not class 
him as one of these ? 

Mr. President. I second the resolutions of my colleague, 

The President pro tempore. The question is on the adoption of 
the resolutions. 

The resolutions were agreed to unanimously. 

Mr. Cullom. I move, as a further mark of respect to the memory 
of General Logan, that the Senate do now adjourn. 

The motion was agreed to: and (at 4 o'clock and 2 minutes p. m.) 
the Senate adjourned until to-morrow, Thursday, February 10, at 12 
o'clock m. 






PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRE- 
SENTATIVES. 

Wednesday, February 16, 1887. 



The House met at 12 o'clock m. Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. 
W. H. Milburn, D. D., as follows: 

Almighty God, as the Members of this House have now gathered 
td pay the last tribute of respect and affection to the memory of a 
man who for so many years filled a large place in the public eye both 
in the field and in the Senate, and wrought with such indomitable 
energy and courage, whose hand was ever unstained by pelf, we riray 
Thee to impress upon us all the shortness and uncertainty of human 
life, and the fleeting nature of earthly honors and dignities. Help 
us tu see that a man's true rewards in life are found in his own soul, 
self-enfolding the large results of experience, magnanimity, courage, 
heroism, purity of purpose; and that thus, and thus alone, we can 
attain glory, honor, immortality, eternal life. So teach us to num- 
ber our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. We pray 
through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen. 

DEATH OF SENATOR LOGAN. 

Mr. Thomas, of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I now call up the resolu- 
tions of respect for the memory of the late Senator Logan passed by 
the Senate and transmitted to the House. 

The resolutions were read, as follows : 

Resolved by tin- Senate, That as an additional mark of respect to the memory of 
John A. Logan, long a Senator from the State of Illinois, and a distinguished 
member of this body, business be now suspended, that the friends and associates of 
the dec-cased may pay fitting tribute to his public and private virtues. 

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate be directed to communicate these res- 
olutions to the House of Representatives and to furnish an engrossed copy of the 
same to the family of the deceased Senator. 

Mr. Thomas, of Illinois. I now submit for present consideration 
the resolutions 1 scud to the desk. 



78 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

Resolved, That this House has heard with profound sorrow of the death of John 
A. LOGAN, late a Senator from the State of Illinois. 

Resolved, That the business of this house be suspended that appropriate honors 
may be paid to the memory of the deceased. 

Resolved, That the Clerk of the House be directed to transmit to the family of 
the deceased a copy of these resolutions. 

Resolved, That as an additional mark of respect to the memory of the deceased 
this House do now adjourn. 

Mr. Thomas, of Illinois. There are a number of gentlemen who 
have expressed a desire to speak or to print remarks upon this occa- 
sion, and in their behalf I ask unanimous consent that permission 
be given generally to print, and also to extend remarks which may 
be delivered on this subject in the Record. 

The Speaker. Without objection, that order will be made. 

There was no objection, and it was so ordered. 



Address of Mr. Thomas, of Illinois. 

Mr. Speaker : Logan is dead, and we, his friends, comrades, col- 
leagues, and admirers, have gathered here to-day to bear testimony 
to his worth ; to stop for a few moments beside the new-made grave, 
as it were, and cover with flowers his last resting place. Nations 
have stood with uncovered heads in respectful honor of men whose 
works and deeds have been as nothing compared to Logan"s. 

For almost thirty years his official acts and personal doings have 
formed a considerable portion of the woof and warp of our countrj 'a 
history, and for the last twenty-five years there has scarcely been a 
day, and along the whole line hardly a point, where the form, the 
voice, the footprints of Logan could not be seen, heard, and recog- 
nized. 

That Logan was a self-made man is, in a certain sense, true : but 
if by the term "self-made" any one understands or intends to con- 
vey the idea that he was born within the dark, cheerless, comfortless 
valley of poverty, ignorance, and lowly social position, he was not 
self-made. His father. Dr. John Logan, was a polished, cultivated, 
educated physician, surgeon, and gentleman of large means for the 
day and frontier country in which he lived. He occupied the high- 
es1 social position, and was frequently honored by his people by 
elections to the State Legislature and other official positions. Gen- 






Address of Mr. Thomas, of Illinois. 79 

eral Logan's mother belonged to one of the best families of the 
South, being a sister of Lieutenant-Governor and Judge Jenkins, 
f< irmerly of Virginia, recently of Illinois. 

While the old home was not a palace, it was comfortable, ample 
in size for the family, friends, and belated traveler passing that 
way. It was the rendezvous for the gentry, the politicians, and the 
best people of that country, who always found a welcome around 
the bountiful and hospitable board of Dr. Logan. Amid such scenes 
and surroundings. John Alexander Logan was born and reared. 
Schools and colleges were few and far between in Southern Illinois 
in those early days, and therefore an education was difficult to ob- 
tain. In educating and preparing himself for the conspicuous po- 
sitions, both civil and military, occupied for so many years by him, 
he was indeed self-made. 

Logan was a born warrior, full to overflowing with military ge- 
nius, spirit, courage, and dash. His military rec< ird in the Mexican 
war was creditable and honorable for one of his years, but it was 
during the War of the Rebellion that his military ardor and genius 
blazed forth in peerless splendor and glory. As colonel of the 
Thirty-first Illinois Regiment he was almost worshiped by his offi- 
cers and men; as the commander of a brigade, division, corps, and 
army, he was the central sun of all his command, and stood in their 
estimation as the invincible commander, the irresistible leader. 

At the battles of Fort Donelson, Champion Hills, Vicksburg. Ray- 
mond, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, Peachtree Creek, Decatur, At- 
lanta, and Jonesborough he led his forces always to victi try. He was 
the most magnetic, romantically dashing soldier I ever saw upon the 
battlefield. Who of those who witnessed it can ever forget the pict- 
iiresque splendor of Lis appearance and bearing as be dashed down 
the line as the new commander of the Army of the Tennessee, just 
after McPherson fell on that terrible 22d day of July. 1804. 

The impetuous Hood had launched his forces upon our lines with 
the fury and power of an Alpine avalanche : McPherson the chival- 
rous had fallen ; a half-defined panic seized our men, and they began 
falling back, steadily, almost doggedly, at first ; but with fast-expiring 
courage and rapidly increasing speed they shrunk before the eager 
onslaught of the enemy. Just then Logan came tearing down the 
line at full speed. He was superbly mounted upon a powerful black 
stallion, a genuine charger, a war horse indeed : his long black hair 



80 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

floated out like a banner, his fearless eagle eyes were two flaming 
orbs, bis face was as dark as tbe front of a storm cloud, and bis voice 
was like tbe battle-blast of a bugle. Instantly the retreating, half 
panic-stricken soldiers changed front, reformed their line of battle, 
fixed bayonets, and followed Logan in an irresistible charge against 
the enemy, driving them in confusion from the field. 

At the battle of Raymond it became necessary to change the posi- 
tion of a battery of artillery on the field. In moving to the new posi- 
tion the battery had to pass over a portion of the field where quite a 
number of the dead of both armies lay. Logan halted the battery, 
and, while in full sight of the enemy and under fire, dismounted and 
helped with his own hands to tenderly remove the dead bodies, both 
Federal and Confederate, from the road where the cannon had to 
pass. 

Such chivalry, such magnanimity, such tenderness in the fire, shot, 
storm, and very hell of battle, has never been surpassed, nor equaled 
since the days of Bayard, Sidney, and De La Hay, of each of whom, 
and Logan, it could be truthfully said. " He was without fear and 
without reproach." Since the war he has been, and ever will be, 
regarded as the ideal volunteer soldier by his old comrades wherever 

dispersed. 

Logan was a born leader in civil as well as in military life. As a 
nisi prius lawyer he stood in the front rank of the profession, even 
before he entered Congress the first time. As a member of the Illi- 
nois legislature be was chairman of the judiciary committee of the 

house. 

In Congress, both in the House and Senate, his position and works 
have been so important and conspicuous for almost a quarter of a 
century that the country and the whole civilized world must be fa- 
miliar with them. 

He was a partisan, both in religion and politics. While not a 
conspicuous member of the church, he had a firm hold on his reli- 
gious opinions, and believed with all his heart in the Christian reli- 
gion and the doctrines and creed of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
Nothing would stir his wrath more quickly or effectually than a sneer 
or gibe at the Christian religion. 

And so in politics. While originally a Democrat, when brought 
face to face with and being compelled to choose between a National 
Government or a confederation of States, he at once unhesitatingly 



Address of Mr. Henderson, of Illinois. 81 

chose the National Government, rejecting the idea that this Govern- 
ment was a confederation of sovereign States, and at once became a 
Republican of the most pronounced type. He had the courage of 
his convictions and believed with all his soul in republicanism and 
in the idea that "this is a Government of the people, by the people, 
for the people." While greatly maligned and much abused and mis- 
represented by his political opponents, he was honored and beloved 
by his old neighbors and friends without regard to politics. 

Few men have held so many hearts in the hollow of their hand as 
did John A. Logan. He was the most conspicuous political figure 
in the West, if not in the country ; and in Illinois the vacancy caused 
by his death can never be filled. 

His smile will ne'er again cheer comrade's heart, 

Nor voice fall sweetly on the eager ear 
Of listening multitudes. The nobler part 

Is his. With boundless trust, faith pure and clear, 
He rests within the bosom of his Lord. 

Farewell to thee, or to that part which dies ; 

But to thy name and bright imperishable fame 
We can not say farewell. Within our hearts their lies 

A memory of thy glorious deeds and name 
Which alone with death can die. 



Address of Mr. Henderson, of Illinois. 

Mr. Speaker: I am deeply sensible that no words of mine can add 
to the name and fame of General John A. Logan ; and yet, coming 
as I do from the State in which he had his birth, and which at the 
time of his death he so ably represented in the Senate, and having 
for so many years had the honor of his acquaintance and friendship, 
I can not. in justice to my own feelings, permit this occasion to pass 
without paying some tribute, however humble it may be, to his 
memory. My first acquaintance with John A. Logan began in 18-tO, 
when we were yet but boys. His father. Dr. John Logan, whom I well 
remember, and mine, were in that year members of our State legis- 
lature, and we accompanied them to Springfield, the then new cap- 
ital of our State, where we first met and formed an acquaintance 
which a little later became intimate, and finally ripened into a friend- 
ship which continued uninterrupted and unbroken to the day of his 
death. 

L 



82 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

I remember John A. Logan as a member of our State legislature 
in 1853, and again in 1857, when be was a member of the house and 
I a member of the senate. He was then an intense, an ardent Dem- 
ocrat, and I was first a Whig and then a Republican. But, however 
we differed politically, our personal intercourse was always pleasant 
and friendly; and no man could know Logan without respecting 
him for the strength of his character and for his frankness and his 
manliness. 

In 1853 he must have been, if not the youngest, among the youngest 
members of the State legislature, and yet he was a leading, promi- 
nent member of the house of representatives; took an active part in 
all the proceedings, and exhibited at that early day the same charac- 
teristics which, in the last twenty-six or seven years of his life, 
made him one among the most conspicuous figures in our national 
affairs ; that is, he was earnest, enthusiastic, fearless. He had opin- 
ions and the courage of his convictions, and he maintained them 
with an ability which I know made his then political friends regard 
him as one of the most promising young men of the State. 

Logan was a member of the Thirty-sixth and also of the Thirty- 
seventh Congress. But in 1861, before the expiration of his second 
term, he resigned his seat in Congress, went home to Illinois, raised 
a regiment, and entered into the military service of his country for 
the preservation of the Union. He served in the Thirty-sixth and in 
the Thirty- seventh Congress with ability and distinction. The dis- 
tinguished member ( Judge Kelley) who sits before me served with 
him in the Thirty-seventh Congress, and can speak more accurately 
of his public service at that time than I can. But in 1801, iu the last 
month of that memorable Congress which closed with the inaugu- 
ration of Abraham Lincoln as President, Logan uttered these patri- 
otic words : 

I have been taught that the preservation of this glorious Union, with its broad 
flag waving over us as the shield of our protection on land and sea, is paramount 
to all parties and platforms that ever have existed or ever can exist. 1 would to- 
day, it' I had the power, sink my own party and every other one with all their 
platforms into the vortex of ruin, without heaving a sigh or shedding a tear, to save 
the Union, or even t<> stay the revolution where it is. 

This was the language of sublime patriotism, and if Logan had 
uttered no other words but those in that Congress they would of 
themselves have entitled him to the highest distinction as a noble 
citizen and a true patriot. 

I was. Mr. Speaker, of Southern birth, and I loved my native land 



Address of Mr. Henderson, of Illinois. 83 

as a man ought to love it. But I 1< >ved this great Republic better if 
possible than I loved my own life; and knowing John A. Logan as 
well as I did, with his strong political and party prejudices, I can 
never forget how my heart warmed towards him when I heard of 
the noble, patriotic stand he had taken for the Union and for the flag 
of his country. Up to that time we had been politically opposed to 
each other. But from that on until I stood by his bedside, on that 
sad and deeply distressing 26th day of December, and saw him pass 
away, I never ceased to love and honor him. 

I shall not attempt on this occasion to follow General Logan at 
length in all his brilliant and wonderful career after he entered the 
Union Army in 1861. Nor is it necessary for me to do so, for his 
military service at least is well known to all persons who admire 
great deeds and love and honor the glory of their countrymen. The 
story of the many memorable marches, battles, and campaigns in 
which Logan participated and won a glorious distinction and a name 
that will live forever fill the brightest pages of his country's history, 
and will be repeated by the children of the Republic, I trust, when 
all who now live shall have passed away. 

Logan was in the meridian of life when he entered the Army in 
1861. He had served with some distinction as a soldier in the war 
with Mexico, and was not therefore altogether without experience 
in military life, and at once on again entering the military service 
of his country, animated as he was by the loftiest patriotism, he dis- 
played such marked ability and such high soldierly qualities that his 
fame was assured in the very first battles in which he participated. 
We can not well think of Belmont, of Henry, and of Donelson with- 
out associating the name of Logan with them. At Donelson really 
the first great victory of the war was won; and Illinois certainly had 
her full share of the glory of that victory. Every patriot in the land, 
and especially every citizen of Illinois, should ever feel a just degree 
of pride in remembering the names of Grant, and Wallace, and Mc- 
Clernand, and Logan, and Oglesby. and Morrison, and Ransom, 
with all the other brave and gallant soldiers of Illinois who helped 
to fight the battle and win the victory at Donelson. 

Well might the governor of Massachusetts congratulate the gov- 
ernor of Illinois on the gallantry of her troops in giving to the 
country the first great victory of the war. And, Mr. Speaker, Logan 
was a conspicuous figure in the battle of Donelson; and it was there 



84 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

he shed his first blood in defense of the Union and the flag of his 
country. But at Corinth, at Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Cham- 
pion Hills, and Vicksburg. at Rocky Faced Ridge, at Resaca, and all 
the memorable battles of the Atlanta campaign; on the march from 
Atlanta to the sea, and up through the Carolinas to Bentonville, N. 
C, where I believe he fought his last battle of the war for the Union; 
and everywhere wherever this brave, gallant, patriotic soldier went 
at the head of his command, he upheld and defended the flag of his 
country with a heroism and a patriotism absolutely sublime. 

At Goldsborough, N. C, I met General Logan for the first time 
during the war : I called on him at his headquarters, and received 
from him a cordial and pleasant greeting. But I was strongly im- 
pressed with the wonderful change which I found in him since I had 
last seen him. He was changed in his manner. He had none of the 
rollicking air of his earlier years. He had manifestly grown with 
his great opportunities. The great responsibilities which had rested 
upon him. first as commander of a regiment, then of a brigade, then 
of a division, and finally of an army corps, in the field, and engaged 
in active military operations, had developed in him a higher, better, 
and nobler manhood. The fearful scenes through which he had 
passed had given him more sober views of life. There was nothing 
of profanity or frivolity in his conversation. He spoke of the won- 
derful war through which we had been passing, and which, as Rich- 
mond was then in our occupation, he fondly hoped would soon be 
over. He expressed the belief that we would emerge from under tin- 
dark cloud of war stronger and better as a nation and a people than 
ever bef< ore. 

Tt was a, pleasure to me t< ■ hear him speak so hopefully of the future 
of our country, for in the courage of his great soul he saw no serious 
obstacles in the way of our future national greatness and glory. 
There was no pride, no pomp, no ostentation in his manner : and I 
was deeply gratified to see that he bore the high rank and distin- 
guished honors, which he had fairly won by his own gallantry, with 
becoming modesty. And I can say to-day, Mr. Speaker, that 1 left 
his headquarters at that time with a feeling of pride in John A. 
LOGAH as a citizen of the State of Illinois, which has never dimin- 
ished in all the years that have followed. 

Mr. Speaker, LOGAN wasa great soldier. He was not only a soldier 
of great courage, but he had great ability to command men : and he 



Address of Mr. Henderson, of Illinois. 85 

fairly won for himself every promotion he received, from the begin- 
ning to the end of the war, by his valor, his ability, and his patriot- 
ism. He richly deserves the reputation so universally accoi-ded to 
him of being the great volunteer general of the Union Army. And 
from the time he drew his sword in defense of the Union until he 
sheathed it at the close of the war, when peace was restored and the 
Union saved, there was no stain, no dishonor upon it. He served 
honorably and faithfully in whatever capacity he was placed, and 
by his soldierly bearing in every battle he fought he inspired in his 
men a confidence and courage which repelled all thought of defeat. 
How many old soldiers I have heard say to me, "We always felt 
safer and better when we knew Logan was near. " 

Was ever any general more beloved, more idolized by his men than 
was Logan ? And did ever any general love and honor the soldiers 
who fought under him, and I may say all soldiers who followed the 
flag in defense of the Union, more than did John A. Logan? I think 
I can safely say No! in answer to both these questions. He was at all 
times and under all circumstances the soldiers' friend. He was their 
friend during the war, whether in the camp, on the march, or on the 
battlefield. And ever since the war he has been their friend. In 
his active military service, marching and moving from State to 
State, none knew better than he how much of suffering, how much 
of exposure and hardship soldiers had to endure in fighting the bat- 
tles of their country. He knew how they had impaired health and 
periled life itself to save the Republic, and at all times and on all 
occasions, when proper to do so, he insisted that justice should be 
done the soldier, and I believe that his death produced a mi ire pre >- 
found sorrow in the hearts of the old soldiers of the country than 
that of any other man who has died since the war, unless it may 
have been the death of that great soldier, General Grant. 

But it is not for the military service of General Logan alone, 
glorious as that has been, that we should honor his name. I have 
spoken of his service in civil life before the war. But since the war 
he has represented the State of Illinois in Congress, either as a mem- 
ber of the House or the Senate, continuously from 1866 to the day of 
his death, with an intermission of two years, and always with great 
ability and fidelity. No man has ever been more faithful to public 
duty than John A. Logan. He has been true to every trust con- 
fided to him, and is entitled to quite as much distinction for his 



86 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

energy and industry, his integrity and ability in the councils of the 
nation since the war as he was for his heroic courage, his gallantry, 
and his patriotism in the military service during the war. John A. 
Logan was one of the most untiring, energetic, industrious, fearless 
men I have ever known in public life. I have often wondered how 
he accomplished so much work as he did, for but few, if any, of our 
public men have taken a more active part in all our important 
national legislation in the last twenty years than Logan. And yet 
he loved his friends devotedly, and when I have called upon him I 
found him generally surrounded by a house full of acquaintances 
and friends : and when he found time or opportunity to prepare 
himself so well as he did for his public duties was to me a mystery. 

But Logan was in many respects a remarkable man. He never 
shirked cither duty or danger. He never approached public ques- 
tions or public duties limpingly or haltingly. On the contrary, he 
met them boldly and without hesitation. He was as quick to form 
an opinion as he was frank to express and bold to defend it after it- 
was formed. He was a man of positive character and convictions, 
and always asserted himself in whatever position he was placed, if 
it was in the performance of a public duty ; but it was without ar- 
rogance or an assumption of self-importance. It has been said that 
he was ambitious to be President, and if he was it was an honorable 
ambition, and many of us who knew him best and honored him for 
his great deeds believed that his distinguished services both in civil 
and military life fairly entitled him to that honor. But he was 
manly and honorable in his ambition, and was never a trimmer nor 
time-server ; he never dodged or tried to dodge any question nor 
avoid any responsibility for fear it might affect his Presidential 
aspirations. He was always a true man, and you knew exactly 
where to find him and what to depend upon. 

It has been said that Logan was not without his faults, and so he 
was not. If he had been he would not have been human. But he 
had as U'\v of them as most of men. Some say that he was impa- 
tient at opposite m , and that this was a weakness of his character. I 
know, Mr. Speaker, he was sometimes impatient at opposition : but 
I have attributed it to the earnestness of his nature, the absolute 
honesty of his convictions, and a strong belief that he was in the 
right, and it was difficult for him to understand why others could 
not see the matter in the same strong light in which he saw it. And 



Address of Mr. Henderson, of Illinois. 87 

this impatience of opposition was not always an evidence of weak- 
ness, but often of strength of character. Whatever faults, however. 
General Logan may have had, he certainly had great virtues, and 
many noble qualities both of head and heart. He was a loving, de- 
voted husband, a kind, affectionate father, a generous, true friend, 
and an honest, manly man. 

But he has left us. This man of wonderful activity, of untiring 
energy and industry, of earnest patriotism, of heroic courage and 
distinguished ability — this illustrious citizen, soldier, and Senator 
has gone out from among us to return no more forever. He has left 
us, as many of us who knew him best and loved him most believed, 
before he had reached the zenith of his usefulness, and when we 
hoped higher honors were yet in store for him. 

Mr. Speaker, I stood at the bedside of John A. Logan when he 
was dying and saw him pass peacefully away. And the scene, one 
of the most affecting and I may say deeply distressing I ever wit- 
nessed, can never be obliterated from my memory. To see this 
strong man, this friend and brother, this distinguished and much- 
beloved citizen and Senator of my own State, struggling with that 
enemy of our race to whom we must all sooner or later surrender, 
and to witness the deep anguish, the bitter grief of his heart-broken 
wife and children, filled my heart with an inexpressible saduess, with 
a depth of sorrow never felt before in the death of any public man, 
however distinguished. And to-day my heart, and I trust all our 
hearts, go out in tenderest sympathy for that noble woman, his grief- 
stricken widow, and her children, who sit under the shadow of a 
great sorrow. 

Mr. Speaker, we shall miss Logan in the councils of the nation. 
We shall miss him in the State which gave him birth, and where he 
filled a large place in the hearts and affections of the people. Gen- 
eral Logan has been greatly beloved and honored by the State of 
Illinois, and in return he has shed honor and renown upon the State 
by faithful and honorable service, and by the luster of his great 
deeds. And to-day we deplore his death and mourn his loss as a 
calamity to the State and to the entire country. But he leaves be- 
hind him a brilliant record, a noble example, and a name and fame 
which will live forever. 



88 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 



Address of Mr. McKinley, of Ohio. 

Mr. Speaker : A great citizen who filled high public stations for 
more than a quarter of a century has passed away, and the House of 
Representatives turns aside from its usual public duties that it may 
place in its permanent and official records a tribute to his memory 
and manifest in some degree its appreciation of his lofty character 
and illustrious services. 

General Logan was a conspicuous figure in war, and scarcely less 
conspicuous in peace. Whether on the field of arms or in the forum 
where ideas clash, General Logan was ever at the front. 

Mr. Speaker, he was a leader of men, having convictions, with 
the courage to utter and enforce them in any place and to defend 
them against any adversary. He was never long in the rear among 
the followers. Starting there, his resolute and resistless spirit s< » m 
impressed itself upon his fellows, and he was quickly advanced to 
his true and rightful rank of leadership. Without the aid of for- 
tune, without the aid of influential friends, he won his successive 
stations of honor by the force of his own integrity and industry, his 
own high character and indomitable will. 

And it may be said of him that he justly represents one of the best 
types of American manhood, and illustrates in his life the outcome 
and the possibilities of the American youth under the generous in- 
fluences of our free institutions. 

Participating in two wars, the records of both attest his courage 
and devotion, his valor and his sacrifices for the country which he 
loved so well, and to which he more than once dedicated everything 
he possessed, even life itself. Reared a Democrat, as has already 
been said, he turned away from many of the old party leaders when 
the trying crisis came which was to determine whether the Union 
was to be saved or to be severed. He joined his old friend and party 
leader, Stephen A. Douglas, with all the ardor of his strong nature, 
and the safety and preservation of the Union became the overshad- 
owing and absorbing purpose of his life. His creed was his country. 
Patriotism was the sole plank in his platform. Everything must 
yield to this sentiment; every other consideration must be subordi- 
nated to it, and he threw the whole force of his great character at 
the very outset into the struggle for national life. To him no sacri- 



Address of Mr. McRinley, of Ohio. 89 

fice was too great, no undertaking too difficult, no charge too des. 
perate, no exposure too severe, no siege too hazardous. He com- 
manded, Mr. Speaker, on the battle line, and never ordered his men 
to go where he would not lead. His skirmishers were never so close 
to the enemy's guns as to keep him away. He was every inch a 
soldier, dashing and fearless, often exposing himself unnecessarily 
against the earnest protest of his commanders and his comrades. 

Wherever the fire was the hottest, wherever the line was most ex- 
posed, wherever the danger was most imminent John A. Logan 
was always to be found. He seemed the very incarnation of sol- 
dierly valor and vigor. Belmont and Donelson, Champion Hills and 
Vicksburg, Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain tell the story 
of his lofty courage, of his martial qualities, of his genius to com- 
mand and of his matchless heroism, as these great battles tell to all 
mankind the dreadful cost of liberty and the price of nationality. 

Great and commanding, however, Mr. Speaker, as were his serv- 
ices in war the true eulogist of General Logan can never pass un- 
noticed the important services rendered immediately preceding his 
enlistment and afterward in arousing an intense, a deep, a profound 
love for country and a strong and lasting sentiment for the cause 
of the Union, not only in his own State, but in every one of the 
Northern States ; and the full measure and influence of his prompt 
action and courageous stand at that time never can be estimated. 
His patriotic words penetrated the hearts and the homes of the 
people of twenty-two States. They increased enlistment. They 
swelled the muster-rolls of the States. They moved the indifferent 
to prompt action, they drew the doubting into the ranks of the 
country's defenders. 

His first election to Congress was in the year made memorable by 
the debate between Lincoln and Douglas. In the Presidential con- 
test of 1860 following he was the enthusiastic friend and supporter 
of Douglas. But the moment secession was initiated and the Union 
threatened he was among the first to tender his sword and his 
services to Abraham Lincoln and to throw the weight of his great 
character and resolute soul on the side represented by the political 
rival of his old friend. He resigned his seat in Congress to raise a 
regiment, and it is a noteworthy fact that in the Congressional dis- 
trict which he represented more soldiers were sent to the front 
according to its population than in any other Congressional district 



90 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

in the United States. It is a further significant fact, that in 1860 
when he ran for Congress as a Democratic candidate, in what was 
known as the old Ninth Congressional district, he received a majority 
of over 13,000; and six years afterwards, when at the conclusion of 
the war he ran as a candidate of the Republican party in the State 
of Illinois as Representative to Congress at large, the same old Ninth 
district that had given him a Democratic majority of 13,000 in 1800 
gave him a Republican majority of over 3,000 in 1866. Whatever 
else these facts may teach, Mr. Speaker, they clearly show one thing, 
that John A. Logan's old constituency approved of his course, was 
proud of his illustrious services, and followed the flag which he bore, 
which was the flag of the stars. 

His service in this House and in the Senate almost uninterruptedly 
since 1867 was marked by great industry, by rugged honesty, by 
devotion to the interests of the country and to the whole country, to 
the rights of the citizen, and especially by a devotion to the interests 
of his late comrades in arms. 

He was a strong and forcible debater. He was a most thorough 
master of the subjects he discussed, and an intense believer in the 
policy and principles he advocated. In popular discussion upon the 
hustings he had no superiors, and but few equals. He seized the 
hearts and the consciences of men, and moved great multitudes with 
that fury of enthusiasm with which he had moved his soldiers in the 
field. 

Mr. Speaker, it is high tribute to any man, it is high tribute to 
John A. Logan, to say that in the House of Representatives where 
sat Thaddeus Stevens, Robert C. Schenck, James G. Blaine, and 
James A. Garfield, Henry Winter Davis, and William D. Kelley, he 
stood equal in favor and in power in party control. And it is equally 
high tribute to him to say that in the Senate of the United States, 
where sat Charles Sumner and Oliver P. Morton, Hannibal Hamlin 
and Zachariah Chandler, John Sherman and George F. Edmunds, 
Roscoe Conkling and Justin Morrill, he fairly divided with them the 
power and responsibility of Republican leadership. No higher 
eulogy can be given to any man, no more honorable distinction could 
be coveted. 

It has been said here to-day, Mr. Speaker, that John A. Logan 
was a partisan, that he was a party man. So he was. He believed 
in the Republican party; but while he believed in the Republican 



Address of Mr. McKinley, of Ohio. 91 

party, its purposes and aspirations, he was no blind follower of party 
caucuses or of partisan administrations. The world knows how 
Logan loved his old commander. General Grant. He loved him 
with a single faith ; he had been his friend in all his active years ; 
he had presented his name for the first time to the Republican 
National Convention in 1868, as the candidate of the then dominant 
party for the Presidency of the United States, and he had stood by 
him and supported him with his utmost energy in every subsequent 
contest that he made for that great office. But, loving Grant, he had 
yet the independence and the courage to dissent from his judgment 
and his policies on more than one memorable occasion, and I recall 
one such occasion now, Mr. Speaker, which can not be remembered 
by any of us without enhancing our admiration for the dead Senator. 
It was when the contest between President Grant and Charles 
Sumner was at its height; it was when the party caucus had decreed 
that the veteran statesman of Massachusetts, the apostle of freedom, 
must be deposed from the chairinanship of the Committee on Foreign 
Relations of the Senate, a position he had so long and with such 
marked distinction filled, a position for which he was eminently 
qualified by education, ability, and experience. John A. Logan was 
one of f our Republican Senators who uttered earnest and emphatic 
protest against that action, and his grand utterances on that occasion 
should be remembered, for they are worthy of the hero of a hundred 
battles. Here are his words : 

Twelve years ago, when I came to Congress, I differed with the Senator from 
Massachusetts in my political opinions. I had always recognized him as a man of 
great ability, as a man of sterling integrity and worth. Yet I had no sympathy 
whatever with his political views. But I was attracted toward him in my sym- 
pathies and feelings because of the fact that I stood many times in this Chamber 
and saw him stand like a Roman senator and hurl away the curs of slavery as they 
snapped and snarled at him. I many times saw him disperse them in debate on the 
floor of the Senate. I learned then to admire him. although I did not fully agree 
with him. He then, sir, led the army of liberty in this country. He was its leader 
in the Senate, its leader everywhere ; as its orator, as its advocate, as the man who 
advanced opinions, as the man who went far in advance and beckoned to others to 
come forward with him and give liberty to all the people of this country. During 
the terrible war through which we have passed he was one of the great leaders in 
the Senate. Through all our trials and difficulties, through our misfortunes and our 
triumphs, he stood at the head of the men in favor of liberty in the land. When 
this administration came into power he still, as the great debater, as the great states- 
man in the land, stood at the head of all. 

So General Logan spoke of Charles Sumner: and, so feeling, he 
could not consent to witness the humiliation of him who had stood 



92 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

on the advanced outpost of liberty and aroused public thought and 
quickened public conscience in favor of freedom for all men. His 
sense of justice was very strong and very deep; his convictions of 
fair play were of the kind that made him the prompt and ready 
defender of those who were to be dealt with unfairly. He was always 
an open adversary; he never fought under concealment; he never 
fought in darkness or in ambush; he was always direct in his methods, 
whether in war or in peace, and " the path of his thought was straight, 
like that of the swift cannon-ball, shattering that it may reach, and 
shattering what it reaches." 

Mr. Speaker, he was not only quick to defend Charles Sumner, 
but he was as prompt to defend his old comrade and leader, General 
Grant, when a little later he was unjustly (as Logan believed) at- 
tacked in the Senate, and the warp and the woof of the thought of 
his defense both of Sumner and of Grant is exactly the same. He 
puts the defense of both upon the ground of what they have done 
for their country. In defense of General Grant he opened with this 
simple but pathetic inquiry: "What has the tanner from Galena 
done ?" And then, answering his own question, he said : 

He has written his history in deeds which will live so long as pens are dipped in 
ink, so long as men read, and so long as history is written. 

The history of that man is worth something. It is valuable. It is not a history 
of glittering generalities and declamation in speeches, but it is a history of great 
deeds and great things accomplished for this country. 

He reviewed his brilliant achievements at the head of the Western 
army, and said : 

General Grant was then brought to the Army of the Potomac. He made a Suc- 
re's-,, he won the battle, victory perched on our banner, we succeeded, slavery was 
abolished, and our country saved. 

The man who had done all that, Logan said, was worthy to be 
commended, not condemned. Then he made a most telling appeal 
to his associates to stand by the great captain who, at the head of a 
million of men, had made perpetual the best government in the 
world. 

Mr. Speaker, General Logan's military career, standing alone, 
would have given him a high place in history and a secure one in 
the hearts of his countrymen. General Logan's legislative career, 
standing alone, would have given him an enduring reputation, asso- 
ciating his name with some of the most important legislation of the 
time and the century. But united, they present a combination of 



Address of Mr. McKinley, of Ohio. 93 

forces and of qualities, they present a success in both careers almost 
unrivaled in the history of men. He lived during a period of very 
great activities and forces, and he impressed himself upon his age 
and time. To me the dominant and controlling force in his life was 
his intense patriotism. 

It stamped all of his acts and utterances and was the chief inspi- 
ration of the great work he wrought. His book, recently published, 
is a masterful appeal to the patriotism of the people. His death, so 
sudden and unbooked for, was a shock to his countrymen and caused 
univei - sal sorrow among all classes in every part of the Union. No 
class so deeply mourned his taking away as the great volunteer army 
and their surviving families and friends. They were closely related 
to him. They regarded him as their never-failing friend. He had 
been the first commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic, and to him this mighty soldier organization, numbering more 
than four hundred thousand, was indebted for much of its efficiency 
in the field of charity. 

He was the idol of the army in which he served — the ideal citizen 
volunteer of the Republic, the pride of all the armies, and affection- 
ately beloved by all who loved the Union. 

Honored and respected by his commanders, held in affectionate 
regard by the rank and file, who found in him an heroic leader and 
devoted friend, he advocated the most generous bounties and pen- 
sions, and much of this character of legislation was constructed by 
bis hand. So in sympathy was he with the brave men who risked 
all for country that he demanded for them the most generous treat- 
ment. I heard him declare last summer, to an audience of 10,000 
people, gathered from all sections of the country, at the annual 
encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic at San Francisco, 
that he believed that the Government should grant from its over- 
flowing treasury and boundless resources a pension to every Union 
soldier who was incapable of taking care of himself, asserting with 
all the fervor of his patriotic soul that the Government was unworthy 
of itself and of the blood and treasure it cost which would permit any 
of its defenders to become inmates of the poorhouses of the land, or 
be the objects of private charity. 

Mr. Speaker, the old soldiers will miss him. The old oak around 
whom their hearts were entwined, to which their hopes clung, has 
fallen. The old veterans have lost their steady friend. The Congress 



94 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

of the United States has lost one of its ablest counselors, the Repub- 
lican party one of its confessed leaders, the country one of its noble 
defenders. 



Address of Mr. Randall, of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Speaker: I sincerely sympathize with the State of Illinois 
and the entire country in the loss to the public councils of General 
John A. Logan, whose valor and skill upon the battlefield were sup- 
plemented and rounded out by a career of great usefulness in the 
House of Representatives and in the Senate of the United States. 

He was a child of the people, and he received at their hands almost 
every honor that could be appropriately bestowed. He was a fair 
and complete illustration of the justice and the resulting strength of 
our form of government in this, that it gives to the worthy and indus- 
trious citizen an opportunity to reach the highest positions known to 
the laws. 

The records of oiir public men are the indications of the destiny 
of our country, either for weal or woe. They represent the moral 
height to which the people grew in their time. They are examples 
for the study of the generations which are to follow them. 

Therefore, when a man like John A. Logan passes off the scene, it 
is our grateful duty to recall every act of his which, whether in the 
field or in the forum, was characterized by deep conviction and by 
undoubted moral and personal courage. 

The full story of his life will be told in truthful and loving words 
by the members of the Illinois delegation and by his political friends 
on this floor ; but I can not refrain from expressing this brief tribute 
of my respect to the memory of a public man who deserved so well 
of his country. 



Address of Mr. Butterworth, of Ohio. 

Mr. Speaker : The time accorded me — ten minutes — is much too 
brief to enable me to even glance at the history which records the 
grand achievements of the illustrious dead in honor of whose mem- 
ory we are met. John A. Logan sleeps with his fathers. The final 
audi! of his life's account has been made up. 

The record discloses nothing that invokes the charitv and shield of 



Address of Mr. Butterworth, of Ohio. 95 

the maxim which constrains us to "speak nothing but good of the 
dead." No friend of the deceased need with pen or speech paint an 
ideal man and call it Logan. His name and fame will stand the test 
of searching scrutiny conducted in the light of truth. That Logan 
was a leader among men is conceded. That he occupied a position 
of commanding influence among his associates in public life and in 
private station can not be questioned. To what he owed his position 
as a leader, what elements in his make-up gave him commanding 
influence, may not be so generally recognized. 

He was a strong man morally and mentally. Not intellectually 
great nor yet equipped with that rich store of mental furnishing sup- 
plied by the universities which enables some of lighter mental caliber 
to pass current before the world as profound thinkers, "men of pith 
ami moment."' Logan was born and reared on the frontier. 

The strong qualities that made him a man of mark, a citizen of 
controlling influence, were inherent, were God-given, not acquired. 

They were not the result of training in the schools, nor yet due to 
an overmastering intellect. If upon these arsenals alone he had been 
compelled to rely to equip himself for the contests in which he was to 
engage, he might never have risen above the dreary level of plod- 
ding mediocrity. 

Along the highway of his public career, as in the walks of private 
life, he daily met men who were in the matter of sheer intellectual 
endowments his superiors, but such men too often present what 
Logan did not, a mere accumulation of intellectual power, uncoupled, 
and seemingly not capable, by reason of some lack, of being coupled 
to useful purpose or great employment. As has been said, in the 
inventory of his mental outfit there could not be found that wide 
range of learning gathered in the schools which men on every side 
of him could boast. 

In fact he was constantly criticised by gentlemen the thin and 
wasted soil of whose intellects had in colleges been cultivated to 
exhaustion and were of depth so shallow that an idea that had 
strength and vigor enough to require a tap-root would sicken and 
die, and where only the pinks and pansies that tend merely to grace 
and beautify the field of thought and action could be sprouted. 

Let it not be inferred that he despised or was indifferent to ripe 
learning. Far from it. In just appreciation of its advantages Logan 
gave to his children the opportunities of collegiate training which 



96 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

the hard lines of the frontiersman denied to their father. I only 

meant to say he held in merited contempt mere pedantic criticism 

from that — 

Set of dull, conceited hashes 

Who confuse their brains in college classes, 

Go in sterks and come out asses, 

Plain truth to speak, 
And hope to climb the steep Parnassus 

By dint o' Greek. 

In judging of men he was accustomed to scratch through the 
veneering that studied polish may put on, and ascertain the true 
quality of the family timber. 

No, sir, Logan could not justly claim great intellectual superiority. 
He had not the grace and accuracy of diction which may be acquired 
in the halls of learning. 

What made this man a leader of men ? What gave him influential 
prominence throughout the country? It was, I submit, due in the 
main to the inherent qualities of heart he possessed ; his uncompro- 
mising devotion to what he conceived to be duty. With him, be- 
tween right and wrong, there was no middle ground. Between right 
and wrong there could not consistently with the high obligations of 
duty be any compromise. In him there was found coupled with the 
unselfish and unequaled zeal of a Covenanter, Calvinist if you please, 
the chivalric bearing of a cavalier. 

He was of the material of which martyrs are made. If a sense of 
duty required, he would have suffered at the stake with John Rogers. 
And by the same token he might not have been seriously troubled 
at the taking off of Servetus. John A. Logan's highest ambition 
was to be right. His stubborn and inflexible will anchored him 
immovably to his convictions. Hence he never drifted and never 
vs avered. 

It was never necessary to run the courses and measure the dis- 
tances of his political career in order to fix his position. Once estab- 
lish the base-line of right and you could find Logan. 

To what, to him, was duty he was as constant as a fixed star to its 
course in the heavens. 

Up to 1861 lie was a Democrat in the strictest partisan sense. The 
Democratic party was the agency through which all great good to 
our country was to be worked out. 

The party horizon came down all around him — he could not or did 



Address of Mr. Butterworth, of Ohio. 97 

not appear to see beyond it. Then came a time when that too narrow 
range of vision was extended. The veil that obscured the more 
enlarged view of portentous events was lifted by the conflict of 1861. 

Logan stood for the first time to contemplate what stubborn ad- 
herence to party lines meant. He saw portending in the near future 
a Constitution overthrown and defied, the Union dismembered, a 
Government disrupted and destroyed. 

From that moment love of party was swallowed up in love of 
country. His duty to him at least was clear. The integrity of the 
Union, the supremacy of the Constitution, the acknowledged sover- 
eignty of the flag were henceforth to him above all else. With what 
uncompromising zeal, unselfish devotion, and undaunted heroism he 
served the cause of his country in the field and in the councils of the 
nation is known to all his countrymen. In that service, as in all 
else. Logan refused to surrender his convictions for one moment. 
His stubborn adherence to his own judgment sometimes made him a 
disagreeable disputant. He would be inclined to consider the sound- 
ness of his judgment and weigh correctness of his conclusions unless 
the integrity of one or both was called in question. That done, with 
him discussion was at an end; thereafter his yielding in any degree 
was impossible, as he deemed the slightest concession might be con- 
strued into admitting a trace of excuse for asserting that any motive 
other than the highest good controlled his action. 

The Calvinistic faith of his mother, the stern integrity of his father 
blending in the son fitted him for a leader, and made him a man 
whose influence could not but be healthful. He would have been 
Moreau at Hohenlinden, but was incapable of being Moreau at 
Dresden. He would have led at Malvern Hill, and marched toward 
the sound of the cannon and the rising dust of battle at Bull Run. 

He was ambitious to be President, but in the pursuit of that 
worthy ambition he never practiced the small arts of the demagogue 
nor resorted to the tricks which mere political expediency suggest. 
Such an example and illustration of worthy political ambition may 
not be without its use at this time. 

These, in my judgment, are the crowning glories of Logan's char- 
acter: That in all his course he sought "to walk in the light." 
Inflexible adherence to duty, as that duty was revealed to him. Incor- 
ruptible integrity in every field of action, and in every employment. 
Unselfish devotion to country and friends. 



98 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

These attributes of his character shine more resplendent now that 
he walks no more among us. 

He seemed not to have lived the time allotted to man. But if his 
last ambition was not gratified, it can truly be said that his fondest 
hopes were realized in having lived to see the supremacy of the flag 
established and recognized throughout all our borders, the Union 
restored, and the Republic he so loved and served occupying the 
proud position of "first among the nations of the earth." 



Address of Mr. Henderson, of Iowa. 

Mr. Speaker : The nation lingers by the grave of Logan ! His 
funeral sermon has been preached in the presence of the people and 
by his coffin, but that was not enough for his memory. Every 
church, every post of the Grand Army of the Republic, the United 
States Senate, the House of Representatives, nearly every home and 
every heart in this great land have offered tributes to the memory 
of this mighty fallen chief. 

Weeks have passed since the bells of the nation tolled him to rest, 
and yet the people remain uncovered. 

It is no common man whose fall shocks sixty millions of people. 

I come to the sad duty of this hour not to speak for others, but to 
render the heart offerings of a comrade and a friend. 

A GREAT SOLDIER. 

We first naturally think of General Logan as a soldier. So strong 
was he at every post of duty that history must hesitate to pronounce 
upon him as the greater soldier or the greater statesman. 

Though not trained to arms, he was a great soldier. The volun- 
teers with one voice claim this. The leading generals of the country, 
those schooled for war, admit it. 

He fought as one who ever kept in mind the great cause that called 
him to the field. 

If true of any man, it can be said that danger and death had no 
terrors for Logan. 

Restless when the enemy was afar, he became eager and fired by 
the approach of battle and a consuming whirlwind when the charge 
was sounded. 



Address of Mr. Henderson, of Iowa. 99 

His presence drove fear from the hearts of the soldiery. He was 
inspiring, fearless, conquering. 

The tumult of battle and the roar of cannon made him the impe- 
rial personification of a great fighter. 

In thinking of Logan as a soldier, forget not his greatest attribute 
— not for ambition did he draw his sword, but for his country and 
all his countrymen. 

A GREAT STATESMAN. 

But few men combine the qualities of a great soldier and a great 
statesman — Logan was both. The courage and wisdom needed for a 
great statesman are of a higher order than the courage and wisdom 
needed by a great commander. It requires a higher, mightier courage 
to face and control a sweeping Niagara of popular thought than it 
does to face death or command an army of men. Logan was one of 
the few men of his time who combined both essentials for these high 
trusts. Most statesmen, like some generals, follow their forces. The 
great statesman, like the great general, must lead. On any field 
Logan was "a born leader of men.*' On both fields he kept close to 
the people. He was earnest, approachable, courtly, chivalrous. He 
was intellectual, thoughtful, studious, and independent. He was 
tenacious, stubborn, untiring, honest. He would strike back if 
attacked, and strike at once, and his blow would be remembered. 
He was sensitive as a child, but generous as a mother. He was 
eloquent and profound. His range of vision and sweep of thought 
took in the whole country. He was a strong partisan, but a stronger 
American. He had peers as a statesman, but not one that could 
look down upon him. 

A MAN OP THE PEOPLE. 

He was a man of the people in an eminent degree. His devotion 
to them was as sincere as was their love for him. He was too big a 
man to be cramped or disturbed by the arbitrary laws of society, as 
made up by the rich and those who talk of " family" and "blood"; 
but he was most at home with those of simple manners, free from the 
conventionalities that grow like weeds about the homes of wealth. 

Seldom did wealth support the career of Logan. It was the 
people who followed him from obscurity to the Senate. 

But few men come out of the trying, cruel, searching conflict of a 
national campaign stronger than when they enter it. This John A. 



100 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

Logan did in 1884. When nominated his party knew him to be 
strong with the people, but the great strength and popularity that 
he developed was a surprise to his party. In the moment of his de- 
feat he was greater than he who wore the laurel. 

It was in the country at large as in my own State in 1884. His 
passage through Iowa was a triumphal march, and his pathway 
could be traced by the surging, shouting masses of the people. 

The historians will tell of General Logan and of Senator Logan, 
but the living will remember him as the "Black Eagle," "Black 
Jack," and " Honest John. 

He was an open, honest, brave, powerful tribune of the people. 
He was one of the great commoners of his time. 

THE SOLDIER'S FRIEND. 

He was a warm, true friend of the old soldier. No soldier from 
any part of the Union with a just claim for help ever appealed to 
him in vain. He knew, and never forgot, what they had done and 
suffered for the country. The fact that the money centers, most 
benefited by his comrades' blood, were daily turning a colder face 
and a tighter hand to the old veterans enraged him. God grant 
that his holy indignation may survive him! He resolved all doubts 
in favor of the soldier, and entertained no doubts for the helpless 
ones that the dead comrade left with his country. As a powerful, 
kind, untiring friend of his old comrades he had no equal, and no 
man can wear his mantle. 

You need not seek a burial spot for John A. Logan. He is 
buried in and can not be removed from the warm, loving hearts of 
his old comrades in arms. 



Address of Mr. Holman, of Indiana. 

Mr. Speaker : The pen of history can only do justice to so great 
a record as that which John A. Logan has bequeathed to his coun- 
try. We can pay on an occasion like this only a brief tribute to his 
memory. Other gentlemen have spoken not only of the public record 
in civil life but of the great military career of this distinguished cit- 
izen in very fitting language. I can not permit this occasion to pass 
without at least adding a word to the record of this memorial service 
in honor of the dead statesman and military chieftain. 



Address of Mr. Holman, of Indiana. 101 

John A. Logan came into this Hall as a member of the House at 
one of the most anxious periods of our history, the beginning of the 
Thirty-sixth Congress. It was a period of disquietude, a vagiie and 
undefined belief was stealing into the minds of all men that the tre- 
mendous issue which for half a century statesmanship had held sus- 
pended was demanding a decision in a voice too loud and imperative 
to admit denial. The hour of revolution was at hand ! While not 
taking an active part in current business of the House, John A. 
Logan displayed from the beginning qualities and powers that gave 
promise of the great career in civil and military life which he was 
destined to complete. The State of Illinois was then represented in 
the House and Senate by an unusually able body of men. Stephen 
A. Douglas and Lyman Trumbull were Senators ; Washburn, after- 
wards so distinguished in this House and later as our minister to 
France during the war between France and Germany ; Lovejoy, the 
greatest of the anti-slavery leaders of the Northwest. McClernand, 
Farnsworth, Fouke, Kellogg Morris, and Robinson, were his col- 
leagues in the House— a very strong body of men. All of them were 
either then men of national reputation or afterwards achieved dis- 
tinction in civil or military life. McClernand, Farnsworth, and 
Fouke won distinction in the Union Army ; and yet with such col- 
leagues John A. Logan was a striking feature of the House from 
the time he took the seat where my friend [Mr. Eden] now sits. 
His manly deportment, the fire and vigor of his occasional remarks, 
the resoluteness of his purpose as expressed in every gestm-e of his 
hand and tone of voice, commanded attention and gave promise of a 
great career if the occasion should arise, and of honorable distinction 
under any conditions of human life. 

John A. Logan entered this Hall in the flower and vigor of youth, 
in a house composed largely of young men, but four of whom — two 
from the South and two from the northern section of the Union- 
still retain seats on this floor. He was a prominent actor in the House 
from the beginning. He was the highest type of a strong, positive, 
rugged, fearless man, whose opinions were absolute convictions, con- 
trolling and mastering. As a politician and partisan he neither gave 
nor asked quarter. He had been educated in a school of politics 
where devotion to the Union of the States and the Constitution of 
the United States was paramount to all else ; and impressed with 
the belief that the Union could only be maintained by guaranteeing 



102 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

to every State of the Union the absolute and exclusive right to con- 
trol its own domestic institutions, he resented with fiery indignation 
any intermeddling of the citizens of one State with the local institu- 
tions of another, and saw in the ascendency of his own political 
party the only safety for the Union of the States. To him the Union 
of the States was the fortress of free institutions, and at every hazard 
it must be maintained. 

He never hesitated in the expression of his political opinions, and 
they were not modified during his service in the Thirty -sixth Congress 
or the short called session of the Thirty -seventh Congress, which met 
on the -1th day of July, 1861, and yet, I think, it was manifest when 
Congress met in the month of December, 1800, that if what all men 
feared, and yet no man expressed, should fall upon the country— the 
horrors of civil war — that the force of opinion which had committed 
him, in common with the great party of the North with which he was 
then identified, to the policy I have mentioned, would impel him, if 
war only could maintain the Union, to accept the appeal to arms 
without hesitation whatever might be the result. If the Union could 
not be maintained by the sweet influences of peace, it must be main- 
tained by war. 

He would have preserved the Union by compromise, by concessions. 
He indorsed cordially, as I believe, not simply by his vote, but 
cordially and earnestly, the declaration submitted to the House by 
John J. Crittenden on the 22d day of July, 1861, declaring the objects 
of the war, and did not modify his views upon that subject during 
that session of Congress, and before the next session he had entered 
upon his great career in the Union Army. But ' ' war legislates " and 
remolds and revolutionizes public opinion. Great public disorders 
which shake the foundations of government have a mighty mastery 
over the opinions of men. I am satisfied that General Logan did 
not at any time hesitate in his devotion to the Union, hostile as he 
was to the principles of the great party which obtained control of 
the Government in 1800. No matter what party was in power, he 
was for the Union. 

A meeting was held in this Capitol in the month of December. 
I860. Most of the Democrats of the Senate and House from the 
northern section of the Union were present, to discuss the pending 
perils of the country. John A. Logan and. I think, all of his col- 
leagues were present. Opinions were freely expressed. When it 



Address of Mr. Hohnan, of Indiana. 103 

came to the question of what should be done in the event that the 
Union should be threatened and the calamity of war come upon us, one 
of the most outspoken champions of the Union was John A. Logan. 
He did not hesitate in the declaration of his opinion. In any emer- 
gency, whatever should be the result to the institutions of the States, 
the Union must be maintained. Yet he spoke as a Democrat, with 
no attempt to conceal his hostility to the party soon to enter upon 
the control of the Government. 

When at a subsequent period he became convinced that the Union 
could not be restored with African slavery, that its continued exist- 
ence would be ultimately fatal to our free institutions, he freely 
avowed his opinions. He returned to this House after the close of 
the war firmly impressed with the belief that every vestige of slavery 
should be wiped out and that the policy of the party which controlled 
the Government during the war could alone secure the peace and 
safety of the Union, and with unfaltering fidelity adhered to the 
fortunes of that party up to the hour of his death. 

I believe General Logan, while a member of the House, and before 
he resigned his seat here to take command in the Army, did not make 
a definite expression of opinion on the qixestions of the pending war. 
Perhaps no opportunity occurred when his views could be definitely 
expressed; but I think I am justified in saying that General Logan 
fully accepted the views of his political friends of the North, and 
stood by them while he remained a member of the House and before 
entering the Army, and that the school of politics in which he was 
educated and the principles of public policy he had adopted led him 
and them to but one result — the Union must be maintained, if not by 
peace, by the dread alternative of war. 

General Logan and all of his Democratic colleagues of the Thirty- 
sixth Congress were devoted friends of Stephen A. Douglas. They 
accepted his political views withoiit question. They stood by him 
without faltering. They had come into the House through that great 
contest, to which reference has been made, between the two great 
leaders, Douglas and Lincoln. When war became inevitable it is 
well known that Mr. Douglas promptly gave assurance to his great and 
successful rival — then President of the United States — that in a 
war for the Union the administration should have his undivided sup- 
port. It was also in perfect harmony with General L< >g an's opinions 
and character, and his devotion to that great statesman, that he 



104 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

should espouse with his whole soul the cause of the Union. General 
Logan was a man in many respects of the same type with Mr. 
Douglas; both were devoted friends of their country, firm, confident, 
and fearless. When war was inevitable, the declaration of Mr. 
Douglas of his purpose to stand by the Union at every hazard thrilled 
the country and animated his friends. General Logan and most 
of his immediate associates adopted at an early moment the same 
patriotic policy. 

I have not spoken of the military career of General Logan. It has 
been well presented by others — his associates in arms. It is of itself 
a great and commanding record. I have only referred to General 
Logan in his earlier relations to public life. While it may not be 
claimed perhaps that in intellectual power and attainments he is to 
be classed as one of the great statesmen of our country, yet there 
were qualities of true greatness in General Logan that cannot be 
questioned; his achievements, both in civil and military affairs, make 
him a great character in our history. The rugged, fearless posi- 
tiveness of his character, his indomitable strength of will, his manly 
integrity, made him a great man. He had the qualities that gather 
large bodies of men around a leader. His friendships were strong 
and warm. He did not shrink from his enemies. No man ever had 
more devoted friends, or those who would make greater sacrifices to 
advance his interests. 

In the judgment of the present generation General Logan has 
made a great record both in civil and military life, in statesmanship 
as well as in the field. That judgment, we may confidently believe, 
will be confirmed by impartial history. He will occupy a large space 
in the history of our country. To the generations that are coming 
he will be a grand type of American manhood ; his name — a syno- 
nym of patriotism and honor — 

One of the few, the immortal names, 

That were not born to die. 



Address of Mr. Springer, of Illinois. 

Mr. Speaker : In the language of the resolution now pending, 
the ordinary business of legislation is suspended that the friends 
and associates of the deceased Senator, John A. Logan, may pay 
fitting tribute In his public and private virtues. In the brief time 



Address of Mr. Springer, of Illinois. 105 

allowed it will be impossible to even allude to the many important 
acts of his busy and eventful life. Much has been said in the press, 
in the Senate Chamber, and in public meetings held all over the 
country since his death in reference to his character and public 
services. I feel that I can scarcely add anything of interest on this 
occasion. 

I saw him for the first time in January, 1857, just thirty years 
ago. He was then a member of the house of representatives of the 
State of Illinois, and I was a student at Illinois College, at Jackson- 
ville. I had visited Springfield to witness the inauguration of Gov. 
William H. Bissell. When I entered the legislative hall, the youth- 
ful and impetuous Logan was speaking. He at once arrested my 
attention. I have never forgotten the scene. There was a great 
interest manifested, and party spirit ran high. He seemed to move 
upon his political foes as if charging an enemy upon a field of battle. 
His speech occupied two days in delivery, and in severity of lan- 
guage and vehemence of manner excelled, perhaps, all other efforts 
of his life. He was one of the leaders of the Democratic party in 
the legislature and had been selected by his friends as the orator 
for the occasion. 

Governor Bissell had been a prominent Democrat, but had differed 
with his party on the Kansas and Nebraska bills, and became the 
candidate of the Republicans for governor, and was elected. He was 
a man of great ability, and his candidacy had resulted in a political 
campaign of unprecedented acrimony and bitter invectives. The 
heated discussions before the people were carried into the legisla- 
ture. When the motion was made to print 20,000 copies of Gov- 
ernor Bissell's message, Logan moved to amend so as to provide for 
printing but half the usual number. The debate lasted more than 
a week, and was one of the most memorable ever witnessed in the 
State, which is noted for great political contests. 

The body was Democratic, and Logan's motion prevailed. From 
that time forward his reputation as a party leader was established. 
During the thirty years which have elapsed he has occupied a prom- 
inent position in State and national affairs. He passed at once from 
the arena of State politics to the councils of the nation. He was 
elected a Representative in Congress from the ninth Congressional 
district in 185S, receiving 15,878 votes while his opponent, Daniel L. 
Phillips, received but 2,790. The political contest of that year, 1858, 



106 Life and Clio racier of John A. Logan. 

was one memorable in the history of Illinois, and provoked the live- 
liest interest throughout the whole country. 

It was during this campaign that the joint debates between Abra- 
ham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas occurred, the result of which 
was the re-election of Douglas to the Senate and the election of Lin- 
coln to the Presidency of the United States. In this great contest 
Logan was a conspicuous figure and one of the staunchest supporters 
of Senator Douglas. In 1860 Logan was a candidate for re-election 
and his growing popularity was evinced by the increased vote he 
received, namely, 20,863, while his opponent received but 5,207 votes. 
He resigned his seat in Congress in 1861, and entered the army as 
colonel of an Illinois regiment. 

By regular promotions for gallant and meritorious conduct he 
reached the rank of major-general. His military record is one of 
the most brilliant of the late war. Had he been educated at West 
Point and thus relieved from the prejudice which existed in the reg- 
ular Army against volunteer generals, there is little doubt that he 
would have risen to the chief command of the Army. But he did 
not need the training and learning of West Point to make him a 
soldier. He was a born soldier. His practical training as a soldier 
in the Mexican war, and his careful study of military history and 
the science of war had peciiliarly fitted him for a great military 
leader. He could not only command men, but he could obey the 
commands of his superiors. He believed in military discipline. 

When General Sherman denied him the command of the Army of 
the Tennessee before Atlanta, a position which his skill and bravery 
had won for him, he cheerfully submitted and urged his friends to 
make no complaints or protests. I can not follow him in all his 
battles during the long and eventful war. Suffice it to say that he 
shrank from no hardship, he feared no danger, he faltered in noth- 
ing. Beloved by his men, and respected by his fellow-officers, he 
won the admiration of the people, and his memory will be cherished 
by his countrymen for all time to come. 

He was a careful student of military history. Those whose pleas- 
ure it was to converse witli him were struck with his Avonderful 
fund of information in regard to the events of the war. He could 
readily point out the positions of the opposing forces in every battle 
during the late war. He could give the numbers and regiments en- 
gaged in every important battle, and indicate the casualties on either 



Address of Mr. Springer, of Illinois. 107 

side. He frequently conversed after the close of the war with the 
leaders in the confederate army, and notably with General Long- 
street, with whom he was on intimate and friendly terms. The last 
rook he ever read was the memoirs of General Lee. Much of these 
memoirs were read to General Logan by his secretary during his 
last illness. He never failed to detect an error and point it out at 
the time. He read military histoiy with the liveliest interest. In 
his investigation of the Fitz-John Porter case he carefully read and 
reread every scrap of testimony, every report, and all contempora- 
neous history, in order to completely master the subject. 

After the close of the war he was again re-elected as a Representa- 
tive in Congress, serving in the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses. 
He was three times elected a United States Senator from the State 
of Illinois, and had served not quite two years of his last term when 
he died. His career as a statesman is scarcely less brilliant than that 
as a soldier. His was a busy life. Whether in war or in peace, he 
was always doing something. His energy and power of endurance 
were wonderful. The amount of mental labor which he performed 
was enough to wreck the stoutest physique. In his Congressional 
duties he was untiring and ever vigilant. His correspondence was 
enormous, but he managed to give attention to every demand upon 
him. 

The soldiers of the late war had in Senator Logan a most faithful 
and devoted friend. They never appealed to him in vain. They 
seemed to look to him for all general and special legislation in their 
behalf. In his death they lost their ablest advocate and truest friend. 

I leave to others more in sympathy with his political views than 
myself to speak more at length and more appropriately of his pub- 
lic record. I desire to refer briefly to his private virtues. 

He was a most devoted husband and father. His home was his 
place of greatest happiness. He was kind to his wife, indulgent to 
his children, and devoted to them all. His domestic life was a model 
of simplicity. Freed from the cares of official duties, he hastened 
to his home, always to receive the greetings of a beloved wife and 
happy children. His greatest enjoyment was at his own fireside, 
surrounded by bis friends. Here he lost all of the cares of the world, 
laid aside all the vexations of political contests, shut out the pomp 
and circumstance of official station, and gave himself up to domestic 
affairs. He spent his evenings at home. He rarely visited the clubs 



108 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

or places of public amusement. His family, his library, and fireside 
were more attractive to him than the pleasures of the outside world. 

General Logan's devotion to his mother and family was a marked 
characteristic. Inheriting his father's warm heart and dauntless 
courage and his mother's unbending dignity, singleness of purpose, 
and untiring energy, he was the embodiment of the finest qualities 
that go to make up a truly noble character and one worthy of emu- 
lation. His father had so high an opinion of his genius and ability 
that he said in his will that he left "John nothing, as he knew he 
would succeed in life and carve out his own fortune." And right 
well did he fulfill the predictions of his father. His powers of en- 
durance were marvelous ; his sympathies easily touched. 

Once during Grant's administration among the numbers calling 
one morning for help from General Logan to procure situations, &c, 
was a little boy about fourteen years old. Upon General Logan 
saying to him, " My boy, what can I do for you?" he replied, "Gen- 
eral, I am a soldier's orphan, and I wish to get an appointment either 
as midshipman at Annapolis or a cadet at West Point. " The general 
inquired, "Who have you to indorse you? I know nothing about 
you." The boy answered, " I have only my father's record in the 
war and my widowed and good mother. But, general, if you will 
do this I will surely prove worthy. I am going to succeed or die." 

The general told the boy to meet him at the White House the fol- 
lowing morning, and it is needless to add the boy got his appoint- 
ment, and is now an officer in the Army. The boy's vim and honesty 
won the general's confidence and sympathy. 

Again, one morning a young girl presented herself with the num- 
bers that came every morning during General Logan's whole official 
life. She said: "General, I come to you without one single thing to 
support my statements, and depending solely upon your kindness and 
sympathy ; but I am desperate. My mother is dying of consumption; 
she formerly worked in the Printing and Engraving Bureau for the 
support of herself, my little brother, and myself; but she has been 
lying for weeks near death, and we have pawned almost everything 
to get her medicine and food. I must do something, frail as I am, 
and I beg you to help me. I could not see my mother die and not 
have made this effort to help her. She could even die contented could 
she know that I had something to do to earn something for brother 
and myself. - ' 



Address of Mr. Springer, of Illinois. 100 

The general's great eyes filled with tears, and he told her to go to 
the Printing Office the following morning and he hoped he could get 
the Public Printer to give her work. It was done, and that frail girl 
has ever since earned an honest living for that brother and herself, 
having laid away that sainted mother soon after obtaining her posi- 
tion. Among the first floral tributes laid upon Logan's bier one bore 
the modest card of that grateful girl, who feels that in Logan's death 
the best friend of the unfortunate had gone to his reward. Aggres- 
sive, intense, and relentless in the discharge of every duty, justice 
was so ground in his nature that it could not be warped by partisan- 
ship. His magnanimity was one of the finest traits in his character — 
ever ready to forgive and even forget an injury. Trustful and sin- 
cere in all his friendships he was frequently called upon to regret the 
bad faith of those he trusted. In such cases he grieved as if death 
instead of treachery had robbed him of his friend. 

There was nothing honorable he would not do to serve those who 
had befriended him. But when those whom he had befriended 
turned upon him or betrayed him his mortification knew no bounds. 
Nothing seemed so base to him as ingratitude. This he felt as " the 
most unkindest cut of all. " It was to him ' ' more strong than traitors' 
arms." and "quite vanquished him."' Always true to others, he ex- 
I hi ted and exacted fidelity in return. 

He was sensitive to public criticisms. His last days were rendered 
unhappy and his ailments undoubtedly aggravated by newspaper as- 
saults upon his motives and official conduct. 

When one reads the eulogies pronounced upon his life and character 
by his colleagues in the Senate, it is almost incredible that such a 
man as Logan had been so recently subjected to such cruel assaults 
as were from day to day published by newspapers having large cir- 
culation and great powers for inflicting wrong and blasting reputa- 
tions. 

In the Senate, on the 9th instant, his colleagues, who are best able 
t' i speak of his true character and worth, bore testimony to his public 
and private virtues. 

Senator Cullom, of Illinois, said: 

Mr. President, few men in American history have left so positive an impress on 
tin' public mind and so glorious a record to lie known and read of all men as has 
General Logan. Tly,- pen "!' the historian cannot fail to write the name of Logan 
as mil' prominently identified with the great movements and measures which have 
saved tin- Union and made the nation fin- and great and glorious within the last 
thirty years. 



HO Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

Like Lincoln, his heart and hands were ever for the people. He came up from the 
ranks of the people, believed in the purity and integrity of the masses, and was al- 
ways ready and eager to speak for them. He was a true republican and believed 
firmly in republican government. He despised tyranny in all its forms wherever 
he found it. He was always true to his convictions and to his friends, and no power 
or influence could induce him to forsake either. 

Senator Morgan, of Alabama, said: 

He was a true husband, a true father, a true friend, and when that is said of a man, 
and you can add to it also that he was a true patriot, a true soldier, and a true states- 
man, I do not know what else could be grouped into the human character to make 
it more sublime than that. 

Senator Edmunds, of Vermont, said: 

His was the gentlest of hearts, the truest of natures, the highest of spirits, that 
feels and considers the weaknesses of human nature and who does not let small 
things stand in the way of his generous friendship and affection for those with whom 
he is thrown. And so in the midst of a career that had been so honorable in every 
branch of the public service, and with just ambitions and just powers to a yet longer 
life of great public usefulness, he disappears from among us — not dead — promoted, 
as I think, leaving us to mourn, not his departure for his sake, but that the value 
of his conspicuous example, the strength of his conspicuous experience in public af- 
fairs, and the wisdom of his counsels have been withdrawn. 

Senator M anderson, of Nebraska, said: 

He originated the ever-beautiful Memorial Day and constantly urged its observ- 
ance. It was a revelation to many that this sturdy soldier should have conceived 
the poetic idea that the graves of the Union dead should receive their yearly tribute 
of flowers. The thought was born of his love for theni. There was much that was 
refined beneath the bold, frank exterior. 

The bravest are the tenderest, 
The loving are the daring. 

A friend who knew him well writes of him : 

" His domestic life was an exquisite idyl. It was fragrant with faith and tender- 
ness. It was a poem whose rhythm was never marred." 

Senator Allison, of Iowa, said: 

He never knowingly did an injustice to Iris associates, and if he found that he had 
done so unconsciously, he was swift and ready to make reparation. He was con- 
scientious in the discharge of his public duties. 

In his death the nation has lost one of its ablest counselors; his comrades in the 
Army one of their most ardent and devoted supporters ; we in this Chamber a valued 
co-worker and friend. 

Senator Hawley, of Connecticut, said: 

He was generous, he was frank, he was tender. Possibly that will sound strangely 
to many people who did not know him as we did. He had as tender a heart as 
entered these doors. He was one of the bravest men physically and morally that 

ever lived. He was a brilliant and great volunteer soldier. He was an incorrupt- 
ible citizen and legislator. His patriotism was unsurpassed in enthusiasm, intensity, 
and faith. 

Senator SPOONER, of Wisconsin, said: 

He will live, sir. in the hearts of men until the history of his time shall have faded 
utterly away. With each returning May. wherever there is a soldier's grave — and 



Address of Mr. Springer, of Illinois. HI 

where is there not a soldier's grave? — the people now living and those to come after 
us will remember the name of Logan, the patriot, soldier, orator, and statesman, 
and will bring, in honor of his memory, the beautiful flowers of the springtime and 
the sweet incense of praise and prayer. 

Senator Cockrell, of Missouri, said: 

As a husband and father he was devoted, faithful, tender, loving, and warmly 
appreciative of the boundless love and undying devotion of his noble wife and dutif id 
children. As a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church he was " not ashamed 
of the gospel of Christ ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that 
belie veth. " 

The name, the fame, the life, and the illustrious and successful achievements of 
General Logan are now the common heritage of our great country and people, and 
will be cherished and remembered by the present and coming generations. 

Senator Frye, of Maine, said: 

Mr. President, there is not a Senator within the sound of my voice, and there are 
Senators here who have served in the councils of the nation many years with John 
A. Logan, who ever knew him to hesitate or waver in or shrink from any expres- 
sion of opinion as to any subject under consideration, who ever knew him to avoid 
a vote, who ever suspected him of taking any account whatsoever of what effect his 
words or his acts would have upon his own personal or political fortunes. There is not 
a Senator within the sound of my voice who, when LOGAN had expressed his opin- 
ions, the result of his convictions, ever dreamed that he was not entirely, faultlessly 
sincere in the expression. 

Senator Plumb, of Kansas, said : 

Logan fought his own way, won his own victories, made his own fame secure. 

Scrutinizing the list of those who, emerging from comparative obscurity, have 
contributed the noblest service t o the Republic and made themselves a record for im- 
mortality, the name of Logan will be found written not far below those of Lincoln 
and of Grant. 

Senator Sabin, of Minnesota, said : 

An inscrutible Providence has removed a great and good man, and the memories 
which cluster about his name as a member of this body are so fresh and personal that 
we can scarcely realize the great loss which this Senate and country has sustained ; 
but his useful life and shining example are left to guide the feet of coming genera- 
tions. 

Senator Palmer, of Michigan, said : 

Amid the many heroic figures which stand out on the luminous background of 
the past quarter of a century none will be regarded with more affection and interest 
than that sturdy and intrepid form portrayed in silhouette, clear cut and pronounced 
in its outlines as in its mental traits. 

Happy the State which has borne such a citizen. Thrice happy the people who, 
appreciating his virtues, shall give him a place in the valhalla of her heroes for the 
encouragement and inspiration of the youth of the future. 

Senator Farwell, of Illinois, said : 

General Logan was the bravest of soldiers, an able statesman, and an honest man. 

No higher tribute can be paid to man than this, and this is the offering which I 
bring. The late President of the United States. General Grant, said to me that he 
could never forget General Logan's great services to his country. In battle always 
brave, never faltering, always ready. 

He is greatest who serves his country best. And shall we not class him as one of 
these? 



112 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

Such are the tributes paid Senator Logan by those who knew him 
best. Such testimonials, coming from honorable Senators represent- 
ing all sections and political parties, will form the aggregate judg- 
ment of his times and fix the estimate in which he will be held by 
future generations. 

One would have supposed that a Senator from a great State, who 
had been prominently before the public for thirty years, and whose 
character, as set forth by his Senatorial colleagues and associates, 
was well known to the country would have been free from the ordi- 
nary abuse and reckless denunciation which is so frequently heaped 
upon those who are less known and less appreciated. But not so. 

In this land of ours which boasts the freedom of the press as one 
of the chief characteristics of our free institutions there are those 
who, for the sake of publishing sensational matter, or to gratify dis- 
appointed ambition, or revenge imaginary neglect, are ready to assassi- 
nate the characters of the purest and the best of our public men. But 
such assaults only serve to attract attention to the baseness of their 
authors, and can no more damage the character of a man like Logan 
than they could fix a stigma upon Lincoln or upon Washington, the 
father of his country. 

Mr. Speaker, nothing can be said to add to the fame or greatness 
of our departed friend. His work is done. His race is run. He 
sleeps the sleep that knows no waking. But his deeds shall live after 
him. Adown the pathway of time coming generations will read of 
his deeds of courage, of his devotion to the public weal, of his love 
for his mother, his wife, his children, and country, and wonder as 
the years glide by whether they will ever behold his like again. 



Address of Mr. Adams, of Illinois. 

Mr. Speaker : Logan will be regarded as the most striking figure 
of our civil war. He was the greatest of the Union volunteers. As 
such he will stand in history. As such he will be eulogized to-day. 
His eulogy perhaps would come more fittingly from his comrades in 
arms, of whom there are many in this House. But his fame belongs 
to all of us : and each of us who knew him. either in the army or in 
civil lite, may well desire to pay a tribute to His memory. 

It might not be appropriate for me to attempt to analyze his char- 
acter as a. military commander. That he was great in tactics or 



Address of Mr. Adams, of Illinois. 113 

strategy, I know too little of tactics or strategy to say. It may be 
that his military career does not afford material enough to enable 
even a military critic to judge whether he wovdd have been a great 
commander in the sense in which Cromwell and Napoleon were great. 
His military fame will rest and rest securely on other grounds. 

He was the loved and trusted volunteer leader of volunteers. The 
citizen soldiers of the Northwest, enlisted in a war for the preserva- 
tion of the Union, were ready to follow him to the death, because 
they knew that his courage, like theirs, was neither contempt of life 
nor disregard of danger, nor thirst for mere military glory. It was 
the courage of patriotism, not less ardent because thoughtful, which 
places the life of the citizen at the service of the State in peace as 
well as in war, and regards military service only as a part of that 
larger service which the citizen owes at all times to the Republic 
which shelters him and his children. 

Macaulay, speaking of the famous army of the Long Parliament, 

says : 

These persons, sober, moral, diligent, and accustomed to reflect, had been in- 
duced to take up arms, not by the pressure of want, not by the love of novelty 
and license, not by the arts of recruiting officers, but by religious and political 
zeal, mingled with the desire of distinction and promotion. The boast of the 
soldiers was. as we find it recorded in their solemn resolutions, that they had not 
been forced into the service, nor had enlisted chiefly for the sake of lucre ; that 
they were no janizaries, but free-born Englishmen, who had, of their own accord, 
put their lives in jeopardy for the liberty and religion of England, and whose right 
and duty it was to watch over the welfare of the nation which they had saved. 

Such, in the main, were the volunteers of our civil war, and such, 
in a high degree, were the regiments of the Northwestern States, 
who made up the famous Fifteenth Corps. They were more effective, 
perhaps, as a military force under the command of Logan than they 
would have been under a merely professional soldier. They recog- 
nized in him not merely an accomplished commander, but a fellow- 
citizen and a friend, whose hopes, feelings, and purposes accorded 
with their own. As they knew that he would spare neither them 
nor himself in the service of the Union, so they knew that he would 
expose them to no unnecessary danger, nor sacrifice their lives to 
his own military ambition. Therefore it was that after his troops 
had come to understand his character as a commander, a regiment 
under his lead seemed sometimes to become a brigade, a brigade 
seemed to have the strength of a division, and wheresoever Logan 
thought it his duty to lead, 15,000 thinking bayonets were ready to 
follow. 

8 L 



114 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

History will take no leaf from the laurels which Logan won in 
the civil war, because he was reluctant to believe that civil war was 
necessary. No man can impugn his patriotism, because at the time 
when others were preparing for the conflict which they saw was in- 
evitable, Logan still hoped against hope that some form of com- 
promise might yet take away the bitter cup from the lips of the 
nation. 

Wendell Phillips said, in April, 1861 : 

Civil war is a momentous evil. It needs the soundest, most solemn justificatii in. 
I rejoice before God to-day for every word that I have spoken counseling peace. 
but I rejoice also with an especially profound gratitude that now. the first time in 
my anti-slavery life. I speak under the Stars and Stripes, and welcome the tread of 
Massachusetts men marshaled for war. 

It was not given to all in those dark days to look through the 
rising clouds of civil war and see in the clear light beyond the slaves 
enfranchised and the Union stronger than before by the removal of 
the great cause of difference between the sections. 

It was not given to Logan to see this. To him also civil war was 
a momentous evil, and he did not see in civil war, as Wendell Phil- 
lips did, a possible solution of the slavery question. Till the clash 
of arms actually came, till the exultation and humiliation of a great 
battle had inflamed all hearts, he thought he saw only a minority of 
secessionists at the South and a minority of abolitionists at the 
North striving to kindle their own frenzy in the hearts of the great 
majority of Union-loving men in both sections of the country. 

You gallant Union men at the Soutli — 

Said he — 
who an- standing against a fierce and bitter storm, if nothing be done to calm it. 
and you are hurled over the precipice into the deep, yawning gulf of disunion, for 
your heroic stand in this fearful crisis history will immortalize your names, and 
your children will read with illuminated faces the faithful sketch of your patriotic 
devotion to your country. 

Perhaps we must admit that, for months after the fall of Fort 

Sumter, Logan doubted whether the Union could be restored by 

force of arms. He had said so in Congress : 

The enforcement of the law at the point of the bayonet will not cement this 
Union again, it will not make us friends, nor will it settle the slavery question. 

Heprobably did not believe that the North would endure the sac- 
rifices of a long war: nor did he believe that the rebellion would 
yield without a desperate struggle, 

To him. therefore, the actual clash of arms between the Lnion 



Address of Mr. Adams, of Illinois. 115 

and the rebel forces seemed to mark the beginning of an eternal es- 
trangement between the North and South, which time would only 
embitter. Influenced as he was by forebodings, felt at the same 
time by thousands of others in all sections of the country, it was 
not to be expected that he should give a cordial support to the war 
policy of the Lincoln administration. 

But the time came when Logan's attitude toward the administra- 
tion of Mr. Lincoln and his war policy changed as if in the twink- 
ling of an eye. It was by no elaborate course of reasoning; it was 
by a sudden flash of insight that he saw that the war was inevitable, 
and that the North was resolved. He saw, he understood, he obeyed, 
as unhesitatingly as did the apostle to the Gentiles when he beheld 
the great light that shone on the way to Damascus and heard the 
voice crying "Saul! Saul!"' 

He st( m id one morning in Washington and saw the regiments from 
the Northwestern States, his own section of the country, march by 
hirn on their way to the front to take part in the impending battle 
of Bull Run. Tbe sight struck home upon his heart and his under- 
standing like a revelation from Heaven. The volunteers of Wis- 
consin and Minnesota made him think, perhaps, of the volunteers 
of Illinois, then far to the front in the Mississippi Valley. Perhaps 
he thought of the Mexican war. and the gallant part which his own 
State had borne in it; of Shields at Cerro Gordo; of Bissell and 
Hardin, and the steady valor of the Illinois line when they faced an 
enemy for the first time on the plateau of Buena Vista. 

In these raw troops now marching by, fresh from the farms of 
Wisconsin and the lumber camps of Minnesota, he saw the loyal 
North in arms resolved to maintain the Union, and he now knew, 
for the first time, that the only way to enduring peace must be 
hewed with the sword. 

He saw his own duty also. He could thank God, as Wendell Phil- 
lips had, for everj word lie bad spoken counseling peace, but his 
heart told him that henceforth the only place of honor and duty for 
him, the only place where his spirit could beat peace with itself, 
would be in the camp, or on the march, or in the line of battle with 
the volunteers of Illinois. 

He did not hesitate. To help to restore the Union he put upon 
the hazard not only life and fortune as others did. but what was per- 
haps far more to him. his darling popularity. 



116 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

He went into his district. He made as brave a charge upon the 
prejudices of Southern Illinois as he ever made upon the confeder- 
ate lines. He made his people see what he had seen on that July 
morning in Washington, that the safety of the great Republic, the 
freedom and happiness of millions yet unborn, in the South as well 
as in the North, must be sought by the dreadful path of civil war. 

Thus the first service which Logan rendered in the war for the 
Union was a victory won by his eloquent tongue before he had drawn 
his sword. 

The very men— 

Said General Grant — 

who at first made it necessary to guard the roads of Southern Illinois became the 
defenders of the Union. His district, which at first had promised to give such 
trouble to the Government, filled every call made upon it for troops without resort- 
ing to the draft. That Congressional district stands credited at the War Department 
to-day with furnishing more men for the Army than it was called upon to supply. 

I shall not try to recount Logan's military services in the Union 
cause during the next four years. There are many others in this 
House more competent than I to recall the history of those stirring 
events, of which they were themselves a part. Let me, however, 
speak of that one of his many victories, the glory of which, brighter 
and more enduring than mere military renown, he does not share 
with any man, or regiment, or army corps. It was the victory which 
he won over his own feelings of disappointment and personal wrong 
when the command of the Army of the Tennessee was taken from 
him. He had served with that army from Belmont to the Atlanta 
campaign. He had risen through all grades from colonel to corps 
commander. He had taken command of the army, as General Grant 
reminds us, in the midst of a hotly contested battle. His glance, his 
voice, his magnificent bearing had infused courage and discipline 
into dispirited and retreating troops. 

[Jnderthe influence of his personal presence they became steady in 
an instant. A few minutes more and they were moving to victory 
like one of Cromwell's brigades, with the precision of machines, and 
the wild fanaticism of crusaders. At Logan's call they pressed for- 
ward to avenge McPherson's death with such impetuous fury that 
eight thousand of the enemy's dead and wounded were left upon the 
field. Logan bad fairly won the righ.1 to command the Army of the 
Tennessee. When this command, so fairly won, so eagerly desired, 
was taken from him, merely because he had received his military 



Address of Mr. Adams, of Illinois. 117 

training at the rude hands of actual war, and not amid the sheltered 

walks and trim lawns of a military academy, his patriotism faltered 

indeed, but it did not fail. He was tempted to resign from the Army. 

What West Point graduate could have blamed him if he had done 

so ? But he was true to himself and to the Union he had sworn to 

defend. Perhaps he remembered the words he had spoken in 1862 : 

I have entered the field to die if need be for the Government, and never expect 
to return to peaceful pursuits till the object of this war of preservation has been ac- 
complished. 

He returned to the command of his army corps. By his indefati- 
gable zeal in a subordinate position he gave a living example of 
that doctrine of military fidelity which, many years afterward, he 
was to urge so eloquently in the Senate, that neither personal dis- 
like nor personal disappointment could excuse a subordinate officer 
either for disobeying orders or for slackness in obeying them. 

Of Logan as a legislator I have no time to speak. Faithful as he 
was to all his public duties, it is not as a legislator that he will lie 
remembered. He accomplished much in Congress ; but if he had 
accomplished more, his fame would still rest on his military record, 
and his military record, for this generation at least, is written not 
only in the annals of the campaigns in which he took part but in 
the hearts of tens of thousands of surviving volunteers of the war 
wlio have so long looked up to him as the bright exemplar of their 
own patriotism, the record of which they will hand down as an hon- 
ored heritage to their children and their children's children. 

One trait of Logan's character has attracted the attention of all 
who met him in public or private life. He was a sincere and de- 
voted friend of his friends, and he was not the secret enemy of any 
man. Open, straightforward sincerity in word and action was such 
a prominent characteristic of his demeanor toward friend and enemy 
alike that we may not unfairly apply to him the description which 
Clarendon gives of the great Duke of Buckingham : 

His kindness and affection to his friends was so vehement that it was as so many 
marriages for better and worse, and so many leagues offensive and defensive, as if 
he thought himself obliged to love all his friends and to make war upon all they 
were angry with, let the cause be what it would. And it can not be denied that 
he was an enemy in the same excess, and prosecuted those he looked upon as his 
enemies with the utmost rigor and animosity, and was not easily induced to a 
reconciliation. And yet there are some examples of his receding in that particular. 
And in the highest passion he was so far from stooping to any dissimulation 
whereby his displeasure might be concealed and covered till he had attained his re- 
venge (the low method of courts), that he never endeavored to do any man an ill 
office before he first told him what he was to expect from him, and reproached him 



118 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

with the injuries he had done, with so much generosity, that the person found it in 
his power to receive further satisfaction in the way he would choose for himself. 

When a great man dies in the maturity of his intellectual powers, 
before he has even reached the threshold of old age, we are apt to 
deplore not merely our loss, but his own. We are apt to regret as a 
loss to him as well as to ourselves the many years of usefulness and 
comparative comfort which he might yet have enjoyed. The feeling 
is not always a reasonable one. Who can tell whether Logan's old 
age would have been a happy one ? Some men there are, like Wash- 
ington at Mount Vernon, like Jefferson at Monticello, who, after a 
life of active participation in public affairs, can quietly withdraw 
from the current of events and spend their declining years in pri- 
vate life, watching the gradual decay of bodily strength and mental 
vigor with the same calm resignation, and even with the same sober 
happiness, with which they watch the lengthening shadows at the close 
of a summer day. Such an old age is not the common lot of public 
men. It is possible only to a few. We can not be sure that it would 
have been Logan's lot had he been spared to live out his three-score 
years and ten. 

His life almost from boyhood had been one of political activity. 
Would he have been content, like Washington, to resign life's active 
duties at the inexorable bidding of advancing age ? He was not 
sure even of bodily health. The fatigues, the wounds, the exposures 
of the war had begun already to tell upon his <•< institute >n. For him, 
perhaps, it is better as it is. His death is our loss rather than his 
own. Better, perhaps, for this keen, ambitious spirit to pass from 
life in the full maturity of his mental powers ; his career not yet 
completed ; the last and brightest goal of his ambition still before 
his eyes and almost within his reach. 



Address of Mr. Rogers, of Arkansas. 

Mr. Speaker: Integrity is the basic principle of all moral charac- 
ter — integrity in its broadest sense, integrity of thought, integrity of 
word, integrity of deed. 

Laborious industry is the indispensable condition of all success 
which is honestly achieved. 

No less an important element in human greatness is courage. 

Not merely that valor which asserts itself in the presence of danger, 



Address of Mr. Rogers, of Arkansas. 119 

nor that fortitude which enables us to suffer and endure, nor that 

resolution which falters not at difficulties, nor yet that heroism which 
despises danger and overrides what to the more discreet and timid 
seems insurmountable barriers, but rather that rarest of all virtues 
among men, that moral courage which prompts the upright man to 
sacrifice public favor, to accept defeat, to undergo humiliation, and 
even public censure if necessary, in obedience to the dictates of con- 
science and in the discharge of public duty. 

My personal relations with General Logan were limited to a passing 
acquaintance and a few meetings on matters < >f public business. But 
I am persuaded from all I knew of him that lie possessed all the qual- 
ities I have mentioned and to a pre-eminent degree. 

At a time when others holding similar positions of honor and trust 
Lived sumptuously and grew rich General Logan kept his frugal and 
simple ways, and finally died comparatively poor. 

In high stations of public trust, when others were falling on all 
sides entangled in the meshes of public scandals and besmirched by 
improper connection with corrupt legislation and doubtful enterprises, 
General Logan steered clear of all questionable transactions, and 
finally bequeathed to his family that which is better than riches, the 
splendid legacy of a good name. 

That he was indefatigably industrious, zealous, and scrupulously 
faithful in the discharge of every public duty those who knew him 
best cheerfully attest, and this I believe to have been the key to his 
great success. 

Few men are born great. The truest, the safest, the wisest are the 
plodders. I do not believe General Logan was either brilliant or in 
any sense what the world calls a genius. But he was more; he was 
a great worker, an honest thinker, and a courageous actor. No man 
ever doubted his courage, moral or physical. His public record will 
show separations from his party and friends on many public ques- 
tions and a dogged pertinacity in the maintenance of his convictions 
against all odds, and even in defiance of public opinion. 

He was by nature self-reliant, but circumstances had wrought no 
small work in the formation of his character. He had grown up and 
lived his whole life in the great West, that part of our country the 
wonderful development of which can scarcely be comprehended, a 
development which it required courage, industry, endurance, patience, 
and self-reliance to work out. 



120 



Life and Character of John A. Logan. 



General Logan was a prominent actor amid all the busy struggles 
and changeful stages through which this great section passed from 
its infancy until Ins death. He had imbibed its vigorous spirit in 
his youth, and it was his strength and support while he lived. He 
reflected its great energies and marvelous resources in his simple, 
industrious, and abstemious habits, his powerful frame, his great 
endurance, and determined resolution. 

That great section of our country gives to history no better speci- 
men of its productions than General Logan. Open, frank, without 
finesse, his methods were direct and his purposes unconcealed. 

He was ambitious, but it was a laudable ambition, guided by patri- 
otism and inspired by a desire to benefit his fellow-men and promote 
the welfare of his country. 

I knew nothing personally of his domestic relations. Of the story 
of his early love, his marriage, and the beautiful domestic life that 
followed, others have spoken and are better qualified to speak. 

I have ventured to speak only of his personal characteristics and his 
private and public worth. All understand his public services, extend- 
ing through a long, eventful, and honorable public life. These belong 
ti i history and are the proud heritage of his country which he served 
and honored and which in turn honored him. 

It is difficult to determine whether his greatest achievements were 
in war or in peace. They were great in both. His long and honor- 
able career is a tribute to our institutions and an honor to our mar- 
velous civilization. His life furnishes a bright example for the ambi- 
tious youth of the Republic. 

He went out from among us in the prime of his usefulness and in 
the zenith of his influence and power. 

In the great State of Illinois his place will not be easily filled. In 
the councils of Ins party he will be missed. In the Senate of the 
United States he will be long remembered. In the hearts of the citi- 
zen soldiery of the Union he is already enshrined. 

Mr. Speaker. I esteem it a privilege, as it is a pleasure, to unite in 
paying this last tribute of respect to the memory of the illustrious 
dead. 



Address of 31r. Bowell, of Illinois. 121 



Address of Mr. Rowell, of Illinois. 

Mr. Speaker : With no hope of adding anything to what has 
already been said in the way of correctly delineating the character 
of General Logan, I am still unwilling to let this occasion pass 
without paying my tribute to his memory. It was my fortune to 
serve under him during the war of the rebellion for more than a 
year, and in the same army — the Army of the Tennessee — for a 
much longer period. 

In that fiery furnace of war, which tries the metal of which men 
are made, I learned to believe in him ; not alone in his wonderful 
leadership as a soldier, but as one who loved his country above all 
other earthly things ; who knew no divided allegiance, and who 
counted no sacrifice too great when made in defense of the flag which 
typified American liberty and unity. 

Since the return of peace I have been one of those who believed 
in him as a political leader — as safe in council as he was heroic in 
war. The ways of Providence are mysterious ; we submit to them 
because we must. Believing in a higher wisdom than that of men, 
we are ready to say it is best when our cherished hopes are crushed, 
our most earnest purposes thwarted. 

I have felt that the annals of Illinois and her connection with the 
grandest and saddest periods of our national history would not be 
complete until the greatest of our volunteer soldiers should be called 
to the chief magistracy of the nation, and so complete in that great 
office the triumvirate, Lincoln, Grant, Logan — each with his own 
peculiar greatness — Illinois's contribution to the world's great names 
"that were not born to die." 

It has seemed to me that the grand army of volunteers would 
never be fully honored and rewarded until the whole nation should 
do them homage by electing to the Presidency their recognized 
chieftain. But Providence has ordered otherwise, and we bow in 
humble submission, still protesting that one page of our history re- 
mains incomplete and must ever so remain. 

From early manhood Logan was inspired by honorable ambition 
to deserve, and to take by so deserving, high rank among men. 

For more than thirty years his name has been a part of the public 
history of his native State and for nearly as long of the nation. He 



122 /■'/'' ""d Character of Joint A. Logan. 

has received honors, military and civic, above most men, but for all 
the honors conferred upon him by a grateful and appreciative people, 
he has returned to them more than measure for measure, many fold, 
in faithful and efficient service. We are and must ever remain his 
debtor, not more for what he has accomplished than for the benefi- 
cent influence of his example which remains for the living and for 
other generations. 

General Logan was a man of convictions. He had no half beliefs. 
With untiring industry he sought for knowledge, and was content 
with nothing less than all that could be known about the great 
questions upon which he was called to act. Having reached a con- 
clusion, it became to him truth itself, it possessed him and impelled 
to action. No man ever walked in the pathway pointed out by his 
own logic more firmly than he, regardless of consequences to himself. 
With unbounded faith in popular government and in the wisdom 
which abides in the sober second thought of the people he had a 
profound contempt for the spirit of demagogy which trims for every 
passing breeze and seeks to make personal capital out of the ebulli- 
tions of passion, the temporary crazes which affect our poor human 
nature. Double dealing was impossible to him. He had no thoughts 
which he feared to utter, no purposes he cared to conceal. 

He was ever ready to give and take hard blows in open and hon- 
orable contest. He never fought in ambush, nor sought success by 
concealment of his purpose where fairness demanded openness and 
candor. 

A faithful friend and an uncompromising foe, he attracted strong 
friendships and invited bitter enmities. Hot and hasty in temper, 
he would always go more than half way in reconciliation. A strong 
partisan by nature, yet he would not remain silent when he thought 
his party associates were going wrong. A native of Illinois and 
loving his native State and her people with a passionate love, yet in 
public life he was an American citizen, too large a man to be hemmed 
in by State lines either in thought or service. 

Among the soldiers of the "Grand Army" he was "Comrade" 
Logan. It was a comradeship of personal regard, of strong and en- 
dearing friendship, born amidst scenes of danger and death, made 
sacred by the memory of the fallen, and cemented by his ever-watch- 
ful care of their interests in all his public life. 
For four long, eventful years he had been to them the ideal leader 



Address of Mr. Bowell, of Illinois. 123 

nearest to the rank and file. In all those years, to him and to them, 
there never was but one ending possible. And that ending the 
supremacy of national authority over all the United States, an undi- 
vided nation, freedom's heritage and home. 

There has ever been an abiding faith among his comrades that 
whatever others might do he would never apologize for the part that 
he and they took in that great struggle, and he never did. But they 
knew he was as generous as he was brave, and they have held up his 
hands with ready sympathy and hearty support in all his efforts to 
help rebuild the places laid waste by war, to restore everywhere a 
love for the Union, to secure to all the people the fruits of peaceful 
and honest industry, and the individual rights which belong to every 
citizen of the Republic. 

To his soldiers his death is a personal bereavement which others 
cannot fully appreciate. I cannot dwell upon it. I dare not attempt 
to lift the veil which shuts out the public from this personal sorrow. 
Their leader in life, his death makes no vacancy for other leadership. 

Dead ! No longer standing in the Senate a representative of all 
that was best and bravest, a voice comes from his tomb, the voice of 
command, always with them, bidding them to remain faithful sen- 
tinels on the watch-towers of American liberty. 

The death of General Logan is especially mourned by Western 
soldiers. The young men of the great West who sprung to arms at 
the first note of impending war formed the nucleus of that great 
division of the Army known as "the Army of the Tennessee." That 
army was almost exclusively composed of the men of '61 and '62 
from the West and N< irthwest. It was the army that won the victo- 
ries which made Grant commander-in-chief and Sherman his chief 
lieutenant. With that army the knightly McPherson won his tri- 
umphs and rode to his death. 

With that army was all of General Logan's service from the be- 
ginning to the end of the war. The injustice which kept him from 
being its commander after McPherson fell gave him also the oppor- 
tunity of showing to the country how great he could be in unselfish 
patriotism. 

At Belmont and at Fort Donelson he gave token of the future 
great commander. But it was in that remarkable campaign in the 
rear of Vicksburg, when Grant cut loose from his base, and by a 
series of brilliant battles and victories, equal to any Napoleon ever 



124 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

won, forced Pemberton within the works at Vicksburg and finally 
compelled his surrender, that General Logan became the idol of his 
men and proved himself worthy to stand with Sherman and McPher- 
son, safe on any field and equal to great occasions. 

Thenceforth where Logan led his soldiers followed with implicit 
faith. Remembering Raymond and Champion Hills, from that time 
on they followed Logan into battle with full faith in a victorious 
ending The war over, he remained their leader still. 

I speak as a member of that old Army of the Tennessee— glorying 
in its volunteer hero ; rejoicing in all his successes in the field, at 
home, in this House, and in yonder Senate Chamber ; mourning his 
too early death. 

While Logan has been the leader of his party in Illinois for many 
years he has never been a party dictator. He never resorted to the 
petty ways of the mere politician. Believing in the righteousness 
of his cause, he was always ready to give a reason for the faith that 
was in him. He knew his position, feared no rivalries, and trusted 
the people. Ability, integrity, courage of conviction, and indomit- 
able will made of him a leader worthy of a great party. Let others 
speak of his failings and foibles if they will. For me they are buried 
in his grave, and Logan, the hero and the statesman, only remains. 

Pure in public and private life, honest in thought as well as deed, 
he has left to mankind an example worthy of emulation ; to the na- 
tion, his untarnished name and fame— best of legacies. 

The Christian gentleman, the stalwart man, the tender husband, 
and the loving father has gone from our midst forever. His spirit 
has crossed the dark river to the presence of the Omnipotent in 
whom he trusted. His work is ended. 

Be it ours to emulate his patriotism, to be watchful guardians of 
his good name and fame, and to cherish that Union of States and 
that universal liberty for which he died. 



Address of Mr. Daniel, of Virginia. 

Mr. Speaker: In the full vigor of his life, in the rounded fame of 
achievement, and in the high career of his distinguished office John 
A. Logan has heard the Master's call. 

Yonder, in the Senate Chamber, we saw him when here we met in 
] lecember last, stout of heart and stout of frame— a figure militant, 



Address of Mr. Daniel, of Virginia. 125 

foremost in the lists, his eye kindling with the fire of exultant life ; 
and now he lies with folded hands across his breast, and his white 
face turned heavenward awaiting the opening of the mystery " when 
this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put 
on immortality." 

I envy not the feelings of the man who does not " niourn with those 
who mourn " the strong man stricken in his prime, the fearless chief, 
the father, the husband, the statesman, the friend, whose life was to 
so many the source of pi'ide. and joy, and satisfaction. And with 
those who knew him best and loved him most, I bow my head beside 
the bier of Logan. 

It is not for me to assume that I am the person to attempt critical 
analysis of his character or the recital of his achievements, nor do I 
conceive indeed that the time has yet arrived when calm-browed 
history may assign to him the exact place to which he was entitled 
in the ranks of America's great men. 

Descended through both ancestral lines of Scotch-Irish stock, he 
inherited the frank, ardent, pertinacious, and courageous elements of 
character which have made that sturdy strain, w r herever planted, 
foremost in adventurous enterprise and hardy undertaking. A 
partisan by nature, and living in times and situations that made 
partisans of the coldest bosoms, we can not yet behold him in an 
atmosphere calm enough and clear enough to draw his lineaments 
with precision. But through the smoke of conflict and the haze of 
passion, there was that in Logan so distinctive that his commanding 
features will never be mistaken for another's; and there were ele- 
ments of his character and of his performances which made him 
worthy the respect and admiration of all, whether they be counted 
as his friends or foes. 

Born myself under and following a different star from that which 
guided his footsteps, and living my life in opposition to most of the 
ideas which he pressed to the front with all the ardor and vigor of 
his dauntless nature, my standpoint has not been such as to make 
me the suitable eulogist of his deeds or render me capable of becom- 
ing his impartial judge. But whatsoever may lie the standpi lint from 
which we contemplate his remarkable career we can not look upon 
him otherwise than a man singled out from his fellows by conspic- 
uous traits, and by many of those traits which are universally ac- 
knowledged and honored as chiefest among manly virtues. 



126 



Life and Character of John A. Logan. 



As said of him in the Senate Chamber by one who confronted him 
in the first and last battle which he fought, he was marked by " grand 
individuality and striking characteristics." And by another not less 
his opponent in the forum and the field: " No braver man ever lived, 
and the Almighty Creator endowed him with many other and great 
virtues. " 

No glint is given us in these words alone of his long, varied, and 
brilliant services; but they constitute an epitaph chiseled by the hand 
of truth upon the marble tablet of enduring memory, and they will 
live as the unaffected tribute of sterling men to one who was himself 
a sterling man and leader of men. 

The reason that Logan's name is so universally honored lies in 
the fact that he lived his life in the light, and had no cause to fear 
the light. In his character and in his record there are no dark mys- 
terious phases. In an era fertile in the production of distinguished 
men. and that brought men to the front according to the strength that 
was in them, he stands upon a pedestal high and erect, a clear cut, 
magnificent individuality, purely American in its type, heroic in its 
mold, marked by the masculine lines of power in thought and power 
in action, bespeaking the will to do, eloquent of the soul to dare. 

Did he accomplish much? Yes; he possessed a robust mind, he 
knew that a straight line was the shortest distance between two 
points, and he went that line, "horse, foot, and dragoons." from 
purpose to object. He was a tireless worker, difficulties and dangers 
did not deter him, and he has left behind him lasting memorials of 
his work with sword and tongue and pen. 

Was he a great orator? Yes ; not in the grace of classic art, not 
in the polish of rounded period, but in the earnestness of his utter- 
ances, the cogency of his thought, and in the power to persuade. 

Was he a great soldier? Yes ; great in the personal prowess of the 
brave knight who faces those not less brave with valor that does not 
hesitate or flinch from the encounter, and great in abilities to inspire. 
marshal, and lead hosts to battle. 

Was he beloved by his soldiers? Yes ; he was thoughtful of them, 
he was reckless of himself, and he fought in front of them. 

Was lie a great political leader? Yes; he believed in his oma 

side, and espoused it with enthusiasm : lie st 1 up to it with fidelity 

whether it won or Inst: lie never took two sides at t lie same time, or 
wabbled between fchem ; he was strong in council, steady in the con- 
die!, and powerful before the people. 



Address of Mr. Daniel, of Virginia. 127 

Was he respected by Ms opponents? Yes; even though they 
thought that he was severe in his judgments and bitter in his ex- 
pressions, they sincerely respected him because they realized that in 
him was the upright, fearless spirit that said its say and did its deed, 
and left to God the consequence. They respected him because he 
was candid and outspoken, and did not wreathe his sword in myrtle 
boughs. They respected him because they knew he did not carry 
political hostility into private relations ; because he was often kind 
and generous to his political opponents, as I personally know and 
am pleased to testify, and because he never prostituted his public 
place to private gain. 

So high is honesty among the virtues that it condones all errors of 
judgment. So splendid is courage that when it stands by honor's 
side it makes the man seem god-like. 

The man who has been laid by loving hands to his final rest was 
honest and he was brave, and mankind will honor his name and 
memory. 

Mr. Speaker and Representatives, those of us whose middle life is 
abreast of the living day have witnessed scenes as stirring as ever 
blotted history with blood, and as decisive as any that ever turned 
its currents. We have seen brothers fall by brother's hand, States 
upset with anarchy, the flames leap over lovely fields and stately 
cities. Then out of chaos and misery and death and ruin we have 
looked up again to the boundless heavens where the sun shown 
new risen. 

Down in Richmond by the James we have seen the men of Boston 
wreathing with garlands the statue of Stonewall Jackson. Away in 
the Shenandoah Valley, where tongues of fire once licked the clouds, 
we have seen Federal soldiers amidst the Confederate graves upon 
the heights of Winchester, strewing them with flowers, and on 
bended knees offering prayers for peaceful home and happy country. 
Amid such scenes as these the people of the land have felt then- 
hearts new opened; and I thank God that the miracles of war which 
American courage accomplished, and the miracles of material prog- 
ress which have filled the wilderness with happy and industrious 
populations, are now to be crowned with that miracle of divine love 
working through the hearts of men that makes us feel the tie that 
hinds to common humanity and common country. 

With humble spirit I commune with yon to-day who pronounce 



128 



Life and Character of John A. Logan. 



blessings upon the dust of him who was a chief amongst your chief- 
tains, and who won by his valorous hand and upright heart the 
honors paid him by the people. 

If errors be committed, may the good God forgive them. His vir- 
tues they were many and they were great. May they live forever, 
the well-spring of pride and inspiration to all his countrymen. To 
his memory, honor. To his ashes, peace. 



Address of Mr. McComas, of Maryland. 

Mr. Speaker: On the last evening he was in the Senate Chamber 
I conversed with John A. Logan. 

His business with the world was done. 

I recall his face now, a noble image of the intrinsic Logan, as we 
here to-day speak of his pilgrimage through life. 

Sixty years of life, a brief section of swift-flowing time, but in it for 
true, hard labor and valor of action there has been none truer or 
braver than he. 

A farmer boy, at school in S< >uthern Illinois ; before manhood, a 
soldier in our battles with far-off Mexico, eager for glory, winning 
honors. A lawyer, a prosecuting attorney, and, yielding to his bent 
for politics, a member, a leader in the Illinois legislature. 

At thirty -two, a Democratic member of this House, elected and re- 
elected as a Representative of the States-rights party. In his place 
here, true to it, until convinced that loyalty to party was disloyalty to 
Hie Union, when he closed his desk, left his seat, though not mustered 
in, fell in line with a regiment marching over the Potomac yonder, 
and fought for the Union in the first battle as a private soldier. 

Then, doing manifold victorious battle as he went along, he emerged 
at the triumphant close of war from among a million volunteers the 
foremost, the ideal volunteer soldier. 

In the whirlwind of the passing time we saw him at Donelson 
charging at the head of his decimated regiment and grievously 
,\ < >unded. 

At the close of the siege of Vicksburg we heard his Great Captain 
declare I hat Major-General Logan was fitted to command an inde- 
pendeni army. 

Before Atlanta, when McPherson fell in the early morning light, 



Address of Mr. McComas, of Maryland. 129 

■we beheld astride his black horse Black Jack Logan, leading an 
army to victory, pointing the way from Atlanta to the sea. 

At the grand review on yonder Avenue we saw him commanding 
the Army of the Tennessee. 

While his hand was still familiar with the sword-hilt, while the 
habits of the camp were still visible in his port and swarthy face, he 
was returned to his seat in this Chamber, a man who knew in every 
fiber, who, witli heroic daring, had laid it to heart, that it is good to 
fight on the right side. 

( )n this floor, and in the Senate, whither he was soon called, and 
twice returned, his first care was for the Union volunteers, their wid- 
ows and orphans. The wounds on his own body, the grievous pain 
he endured with proud reticence for a quarter of a century, only 
served to remind him of those who with him, or like him, suffered, 
hungry or athirst, in heat or snow, the marches without rest, the 
nights without sleep, the fevers or pestilence gathering over an army 
in slumber, or the night-watches in rain that froze as it fell, as well 
as the wounds in battle. 

He was thus the nearest, best friend of the volunteer, the peer of the 
highest officer, a brother to the humblest soldier, the sponsor of the 
Grand Army of the Republic, the founder of "'Memorial Day.*' 

Faults and prejudices he had, but he was always loyal to truth and 
duty. 

Frank, impetuous, decisive, honest, he advocated his convictions 
with a scorn of personal consequence, in peace as in war, whether as 
a manager of the impeachment of President Johnson, defending Sen- 
ator Payne, condemning General Porter, legislating for the recon- 
struction, or laboring for the education of an enfranchised race. 

The manliest of men, a marvelous leader of the people, a famous 
popular orator, a great general, a statesman. 

Unsullied he bore his crowding honors worthily in public life, and 
rejoiced in the sweet contentment of an almost ideal home life. 

The friend of Lincoln and Grant, with their greater names posterity 
will associate Logan's heroic face, painted now, as on the azure of 
eternity, serene, victorious. 

God grant that the light he leaves behind him may illumine the 
path of those who may serve our country in her need for generations 
to come. 
9 L 



130 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 



Address of Mr. Weaver, of Nebraska. 

Mr. Speaker : John A. Logan dead ; no, not dead! 
There is no Death! What seems so is transition. 
This life of mortal breath 
Is but a suburb of the life elysian, 
Whose portal we call Death. 

The noble traits of character of John A. Logan have been indeli- 
bly stamped upon the hearts of the American people. 

His whole life as warrior and statesman was dedicated to giving 
full force and significance to that affirmation of the Declaration of 
Independence, " That all men are created equal; that they are en- 
dowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among 
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." 

When that mighty effort for the destruction of constitutional 
liberty had well nigh sapped the foundations of this Republic; when 
weak and wavering men, to avoid the terrible consequences of war, 
were willing to make concessions looking to the separation of this 
Union, then it was that John A. Logan, rising above all considera- 
tions of party policy, inspired by a patriotism and love of country as 
fervent as that which moved the heart of William Wallace to strike 
mightily for freedom when he believed that the tyrant had invaded 
the dignity of his home and that black treachery was torturing away 
the freedom of his countrymen, then it was, I say, that this great 
warrior and statesman breathed upon the discontented and wavering 
elements of his own party utterances of such pure and patriotic de- 
votion to his whole united country as will make his memory as last- 
ing and imperishable as the Republic itself. 

The noble traits of his character in his devotion to his country 
were made more conspicuous because of his life-long affiliation with 
a party that was now engaged in a war for the destruction of the 
Union and a dedication of one part thereof to human slavery. 

Before the bugle blast of war had called any of our country's de- 
fenders to the field, but when every movement of the discontented 
elements attested to the fearful truth that civil war with all its dire 
consequences was about to test the national bond, upon this floor, in 
February. 1861, JOHN A. Logan said : 

I have been taught that the preservation of this glorious Union, with its broad 
(lag waving over us as the shield of our protection on land and sea, is paramount to 



Address of Mr. Weaver, of Nebraska. 131 

all parties and platforms that ever have existed or ever can exist. I would to-day, 
if I had the power, sink my own party, and every other one, with all their plat- 
forms, into the vortex of ruin, without heaving a sigh or shedding a tear, to save 
the Union or even to stay the revolution where it is. 

This was but a patriotic declaration before the clash of arms, but in 
confirmation of his entire consecration and devotion to the preserva- 
tion of the Union we have only to let impartial history bear witness. 
Not content to serve his country in the Halls of Congress, away fn >m 
the exposure and danger of shot and shell, this bx-ave man rushed 
into the thickest of battle. 

Where Logan went victory perched upon the Stars and Stripes. 
He was the inspiration, and his soldiers followed him into battle 
with a Spirit of confidence and determination that knows no defeat. 

From whatever cause that may be assigned by the faithful chron- 
icler of events, yet no one will ever attempt to gainsay that where 
John A. Logan went there was victory, there was fighting. He 
was one whose presence meant a contest, a struggle to the death. 
Let Belmont, and Donelson, and Vicksbttrg, and Corinth, and 
Champion Hills, and other battlefields attest to the truthfulness of 
this allegation. 

In that contest for the preservation of the nation — for right against 
wrong, for freedom against slavery, for all that was good and pure 
and noble against all that was wicked and wrong and oppressive, 
wherein from the beginning of the contest to the close more than 
two and one-half millions of citizen soldiers placed their lives upon 
the altar of their country in that contest — we do know that John A. 
Logan was the greatest volunteer soldier, the greatest commander 
taken from civil life. He was the recognized leader of that great 
army of volunteer soldiers, and from the close of the war has been 
the defender and champion of the cause of the common soldier in 
the Congress of the United States. 

The defenders of our common country whose valor has been at- 
tested upon a hundred battlefields have lost their greatest friend, 
and our country has lost a great warrior and pure .statesman. 

John A. Logan has been in the public service, almost continuously, 
for more than thirty years, and during all these years of faithful 
service his conduct has been so pure that not even a. suggestion of 
corruption was ever associated with his name. 

His mission in life was not a struggle for the accumulation of 
gold : he sought not to pacify his conscience with the gilded bubble 



132 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

of wealth ; he neglected not the elements of intellectual and moral 
greatness for the sordid and perishable things of time. His whole 
life was dedicated to his country, to human rights, to making more 
firm and lasting the foundations of this Republic. He has woven his 
name in history with illustrious and praiseworthy deeds. 

Oh, that we had more Logans in the public service ! More whose 
every thought and every effort were given to the discharge of pub- 
lic duty ; more who sought no opportunity from public position to 
secure ill-gotten gains to the detriment of the general public : more 
who come to high public place because the public demand their serv- 
ice and not because the place is made the subject of barter or to serve 
some special interest. 



Address of Mr. CUTCHEON, of Michigan. 

Mr. Speaker : When on the 26th day of December last the intelli- 
gence was flashed across the lands and under the seas that John A. 
Logan was dead, to millions of men it brought a sense of personal 
loss and bereavement. 

There were men among us of greater learning than he, men more 
famous in statecraft, more profound in the law, more eloquent as 
orators, and some few greater as soldiers ; but I greatly doubt whether 
among the sixty millions of people in this Republic there was one 
other man whose death would have touched the hearts of so many 
persons with a feeling of individual loss as did the death of Logan. 

This is a phenomenon worthy of our study. Here was a man who 
was neither greatly learned, nor polished, nor rich, nor aristocratic ; 
but he had made himself felt across this great continent and his name 
familiar among all English-speaking people. 

Whatever other traits he may have possessed or may have lacked, 
he was a forceful man. Wherever he came, throughout his whole 
life, men became conscious that anew force had entered into the 
problem to be solved, a force that was positive and could not be 
ignored. 

His was a masterful nature that bent circumstances to his will, and 
brought men around him to work with him and for him. It isgiven 
to but few men in a generation to become so positive a force among 
his fellow-man as Logan was. 

I said "as Log \n was:" T might have said as Logan is; for char- 



Address of Mr. Cutcheon, of Michigan. 133 

acter does not die with the mortal frame, and his character, his influ- 
ence, and his achievements have entered into the forces that are 
developing our national and individual life. 

There seems to be an epoch in the formative stage of all new states 
favorable to the growth of strong men. 

I was struck recently, in reading the life of Abraham Lincoln, 
with the remarkable group of men that sprung up in the early his- 
tory of Illinois. 

When the seat of government was first removed to Springfield there 
were found at that young capital at one time Lincoln, whose name 
stands second to none in American history; Douglas. " the Little 
Giant," Lincoln's great competitor for the Presidency ; Davis, justice 
of the Supreme Court, Senator and acting Vice-President ; Brown- 
ing, Senator and Cabinet officer ; Trumbull, Senator and jurist ; 
Baker, Senator and general ; and Shields, general and three times 
Senator from as many different Commonwealths. 

It was while all these men were still upon the stage, and, in fact, 
in the very prime of their early manhood, that Logan first appeared 
in political life, in 1852, as a member of the Illinois legislature. 

He was an admirer, and became a follower, of Stephen A. Douglas. 
I am impressed with the belief that in many respects his character 
was more largely formed upon that of Douglas than of any other 
man. They had the same strong, dominant will, the same courage 
and fearlessness in following out a conviction, the same pugnacity 
and persistence in fighting their contests to the finish. They were 
alike exceedingly forceful among men. and natural leaders. Under 
the influence of the example of such men as I have named Logan 
began the career which was to be so potential for his country and 
for humanity. 

A character is the product of all the forces that enter into it, and 
the first great formative force is heredity. Logan was of Scotch- 
Irish descent, a very sturdy and very vigorous stock, which has 
given us some of the strongest men that have blessed our country. 

The next great mold of character is the environment of childhood 
and youth. Logan was born upon a farm in the comparative isola- 
tion of a newly-settled region. 

The men around him were of the large, strong, generous type that 
develops upon the frontier, and he inevitably partook of the spirit 
of the boundless prairie and the freedom that has never felt the fet- 
ters and constraints of aggregated humanity in cities. 



134 



Life and Character of John A. Logan. 



Just as he was emerging from youth came the war with Mexico, 
and a union of patriotism with the spirit of adventure swept him 
into the ranks of the army in that struggle. It was a mere episode 
in his life, but it was an index to the character of the coming man. 

Then came the study of the law, and at the age of twenty-six we 
find him in the legislature of his State, from which Lincoln had hut 
four years before graduated into the Halls of Congress. 

After being again elected to the legislature in 1856, Logan, in 1858, 
was himself elected to Congress, at the age of thirty -two, where he 
commenced that public career which only ended when, on the day 
after the last Christmas-tide, he laid all his honors and all his burdens 

down. 

Meanwhile a new force and influence had come into his life. In 
1855 he had married that devoted woman who thenceforth and 
throughout his life became his helper and his good genius. We may 
not speak more of her here. "What his life would have been had he 
never met Mary S. Cunningham it would be impossible to guess, 
but it is safe to say that it would have been far less useful and less 
illustrious than it was. 

It was here in Washington that his real career began and his real 
character shone forth. The nation was already entering the penum- 
bra of the dread eclipse of war. 

The chill and shadow of the coming event was already upon the 
hearts of the people. 

Born, as he was, in Southern Illinois, a promontory of the free 
States projecting far down into the gulf of slavery, and peopled largely 
with settlers from the adjacent slave States, his whole political edu- 
cation was in sympathy with Southern views, and it was natural, 
almost inevitable, that he should ally himself with the party which 
had been the champion of Southern institutions. The great contest 
of 1858 between Lincoln and Douglas had been already fought, and 
the same political wave that carried Douglas back into the Senate 
swept Logan into the House. 

While serving his first term in this House, the whole country 
was startled and shocked by John Brown's raid upon Harper's Ferry. 
It was a declaration of war by one man. It was a small affair in 
itself— just a fanatical old man and a few devoted followers hurling 
themselves to death upon the jagged rocks of a continent of wrong; 
it was but the flash of the meteor bursting from obscurity, lurid for 



Address of Mr. Cutcheon, of Michigan. 135 

a moment, then plunging down to darkness and deeper night; it was 
the low grumble and jar of the earthquake which tells that the " sure 
and firm-set earth '* is swimming beneath our feet. 

Old John Brown was summarily tried, convicted, and hanged, but 
his scaffold became the scene of exaltation of a grand self-immolation 
for the uplifting of lowliest man. 

John Brown's body lay moldering in the ground, 

But his soul went marching on. 

It marched to the South and it marched to the North, and every- 
where it was a gleaming sword summoning the nation to the death- 
struggle of Freedom and Slavery. 

We said that the only question was between Union and Disunion, 

but we knew in our hearts that the issue was broader than that — 

that the real issue was Freedom or Slavery, and the hour had come 

for the nation to choose. 

Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide. 

In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side ; 

Some great cause, God's new Messiah offering each the bloom or blight, 

Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right ; 

And the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and that light. 

Perhaps few men were ever more strongly attached to a party than 
Logan was to his, but when it came to a question between party and 
country he knew no such thing as party allegiance. 

The first shot that cleft the stillness of Charleston Harbor as it 
boomed across the bay against Sumter severed the last tie that bound 
him to a party he had loved and labored for until he had reached 
one-half the allotted age of man. In the fierce heat of his patriotism 
everything that might hold him back from supreme devotion to his 
country was burned away — utterly consumed. 

He at once resigned his seat in Congress and returned to his State, 
that those who had looked to him as their political oracle might hear 
his rallying voice and be held firmly to the cause of the Union. 
With all the force and intensity of his nature he summoned his old 
political friends to the standard of his country, and a short time saw 
him at the head of a volunteer regiment, the Thirty-first Illinois. 

It is no part of my purpose to follow him through the annals of 
the war. It is a splendid record of patriotism, devotion, courage, 
and magnificent leadership. 

Belmont, Donelson, Corinth, Champion Hills. Jackson, Raymond, 
and Vicksburg witnessed his valor and took reflected luster from the 
gleam of his sword. 



136 Life and Character of Joint A. Logan. 

Resaca, Kenesaw, Atlanta, and Jonesboro' are linked with his 
fame, and in large part owe their glory to his prowess. 

He never elbowed his way to promotion, but promotion came to 
him almost of necessity. 

The eagle of the colonel gave way to the star on his shoulders 
after Donelson, and that again was replaced by the double stars of 
the major-general, and these were but imperfect indices of his 
growth. 

As a soldier he was the very impersonation of intense energy. 
Men followed him because they had no choice but follow him. 

He was first of all intensely patriotic ; he was as brave as patriotic, 
and as magnanimous as he was brave. 

He possessed the confidence of his superiors and the enthusiastic 
love of his soldiers. 

Of his return to Congress after the war and his career here for al- 
most twenty years I have not time to speak. Others have done that 
far better than I could. But during the four years that I knew 
him here it seemed to me that his life as a Senator and statesman 
was but the projecture into another sphere of the traits that made 
him the splendid soldier that he was — intense patriotism, unlimited 
courage, strong virile force, honesty that was unassailable, devotion 
to duty that took little account of consequences to self. 

My acquaintance with General Logan began almost immediately 
on my arrival at the Capital. The first business brought before the 
committee on which I had the honor to serve was the case of Fitz- 
John Porter; and in that connection I was at once brought into con- 
tact with General Logan. I was deeply impressed with the earnest- 
ness of his conviction and the intensity of his feelings, and his utter 
loathing of what he believed to be a betrayal of trust. As he would 
speak of it his indignation would flame up. his form would seem to 
dilat.'. and his eye would flash as if with the old light of battle, and 
I could imagine how he would have ridden down the line as he did 
at Peach Tree Creek, with his black hair streaming on the wind and 
his battle-blade flashing befoiv his rushing battalions. 

Does any one doubt that Logan was great? No one but a great 
man can fill a continent with his name, can hold a great common- 
wealth in his grasp, can bind unknown millions to him who have 
never seen his face, so that his loss shall seem to each a personal be- 
reavement. This Logan did. Hut he is discharged the service of 
this life — mustered out for promotion. 



Address of Mr. Wilson, of West Virginia. 137 

Mr. Speaker, the devoted patriot, the brave soldier, the couragei >us 
statesman, the unsoiled Senator, the devoted husband and father, 
the soldier's friend, the peerless volunteer — he shall walk with us 
here no more. 

The tender flowers we laid upon his coffin on that last sad day of 
the old year have long since withered and their fragrance passed 
away. Neither their loveliness nor their perfume had power to hold 
him back from the dissolution of mortality nor from the corruption 
of the grave. 

And so with our eulogies to-day. They will fade with the passing 
hour. " The world will little note nor long remember what we say 
here, but it can never forget what he did here." 

If his fame depended upon this fleeting breath of eulogy it would 

not be worth the having. His name may save our words from utter 

oblivion, but all our praise will not prolong his memory by a single 

day. His fame rests securely in the nation that he loved and helped 

to save, in the millions of hearts that he taught the priceless lesson 

of patriotism, in the thousands of homes that he made brighter and 

happier by his life. 

His voice is silent in your council hall 

Forever: and whatever tempest lower. 

Forever silent. Even if they broke 

In thunder, silent: yet remember all 

He spoke among you, and the man who spoke. 

Who never sold the truth to serve the hour, 

Nor paltered with Eternal God for power. 



Address of Mr. Wilson, of West Virginia. 

Mr. Speaker: I can not speak of General Logan with the kindling 
glow of personal friendship, or even of political sympathy, that has 
been the inspiration of many tributes to-day. I knew him but 
slightly in the occasional contact of public life, and not at all in the 
intimate relations of private life. Tome he was only what he was 
to the great body of his countrymen — a fellow-citizen, a distinguished 
fellow-citizen, who, in all the period covered by my memory of pi >- 
litical affairs, had been a positive figure in the arena of American 
politics. To give a sketch of his life, however brief, would ]»■ to 
tread a path many times trodden already, and I possess no fund of 
personal reminiscences from which, on an occasion like this, a speaker 



138 Life and Character of John A. Lagan. 

may appropriately fill in the soft and delicate traits of character 
unseen in its general outline. 

I must, therefore, speak of General Logan simply as the clear-cut 
and distinct figure that has so long been familiar to the American 
people, for I think no one will deny that he stood out with an indi- 
viduality all his own, even in that small class of public men to whom 
public service is a steady and unbroken career, and not, as it is to 
most of us, merely a parenthesis in some other calling. What was 
the trait in General Logan's character that drew and fastened to 
him as a permanent possession the favor of his fellow-citizens ? 

Not broad and thoughtful statesmanship, for while there is a grow- 
ing conviction that in this respect he was underrated, still he was not 
prominent as the author of public policies or of great party measures; 
not great power in Congressional debate, or magnetic oratory before 
the people, although he was strong in both; not the unquestioned in- 
tegrity that passed with clean hands through all the temptations and 
opportunities of place and power, for this was shared by many others 
among his colleagues both living and dead; not party leadership or 
ardent party zeal that loved the fray and was happiest when in the 
thickest of the fight. Concede to him all these traits, some in the 
fullest, all in a respectable measure, and we must still look beyond 
them for the chief source of General Logan's hold upon the favor of 
his countrymen, the warm attachment of friends, the hearty respect 
of enemies. 

The cap-stone and crowning virtue of his character was its brave 
and transparent singleness. He did not walk the stage in the mask 
of an actor. Men saw his robust virtues and admired them; they 
likewise saw his faults and forgot them, because he wore them both 
upon his breast. They believed him to be just what he seemed to 
be, nothing more and nothing less. 

And thus. Mr. Speaker, he had grown upon his countrymen as one 
who might fitly use as his own the words which Homer puts in the 
mouth of the hero of his Iliad : 

For I hate with perfect hatred. 

Hate him like the gates of hell, 
Who within him one thought harbors 

While his lips another tell. 

This rare and noble virtue was the key to General Logan's hold 
on public favor and his ever-widening popularity. 

But, Mr. Speaker, General Logan was not only, and perhaps not 



Address of Mr. Wilson, of West Virginia. 139 

chiefly, known as a civilian and Senator. When the seed of discord 
planted, or, rather should I say, consciously and helplessly left in 
our Federal Constitution by its framers, had, before the lapse of a 
single century of national existence, under the forcing heat of the 
slavery straggle, burst into the blood-red flower of civil war, General 
Logan was among the first, and most eager, to take part in the con- 
flict. Of all the men that went forth from this Capitol, to range 
themselves on the one or the other side in that Titanic struggle, of 
all the men that entered either army from civil life, he came back 
bringing the greenest laurels and having achieved the most unfading 
glory, and, in the more than twenty years that have since elapsed, 
the luster of that martial glory added much to his power and influ- 
ence in the councils of his party and of his country. 

Mr. Speaker, it is a noteworthy fact that in the memorial services, 
one week ago in the Senate, no heartier tributes were offered than 
those which came from men who had met him, not only in the hot 
contests of partisan strife, but in the fiercer combats of real war. 
They were sincere tributes of manly men to a manly man. Ah, Mr. 
Speaker, we glory in our material greatness, our unequaled empire, 
with its sixty millions of freemen, our growth in wealth, the daz- 
zling sweep of mechanical invention, our cities and railroads and 
telegraphs ; but, sir, let us remember that after all the man is greater 
than all these, the man is more than the city, more than the rail- 
road or steam-engine, more than the electric telegraph. 

No prouder boast was ever made than that of the old Ithacan, 
when he said that his little island was "a rough, wild, nurse land, 
but its crops were men." 

Was there anything in his life more manly and more pathetic than 
the prayer that mingled so often with the dying breath and dying 
thoughts of the successful warrior, when at Mount McGregor he, 
too. surrendered to a warrior stronger than himself, that prayer for 
the complete return of harmony and good feeling among his once 
divided countrymen? When after centuries of stubborn contest the 
strife between the two orders at Rome had finally ceased, the strife 
that so often threatened to dissolve the state and quench forever its 
rising star ; and plebeian and patrician, turning from the bitterness 
of the past and remembering only its glories, joined in the career of 
greatness that has as yet no counterpart in history, the old warrior 
Camillus vowed a temple to Concord, and a later generation of Ro- 
mans built that temple, whose remains are yet seen in the forum. 



140 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

Mr. Speaker, was not the dying prayer of General Grant such an 
inspiration, such an injunction, such a vow ? And will not some 
generation yet to come, it may be sooner than we expect, a genera- 
tion freer from the passions and prejudices of the strife than we dare 
to be, build a temple to Concord, and in it place the marble statues 
of Grant and Lee, of Stonewall Jackson and Thomas, of Hancock 
and Stuart, of Hood and Logan, and others not named, some yet 
among the living? Then, when future generations of American 
citizens shall view that temple, though they may possess a higher 
civilization than we enjoy, a greater material prosperity, and a 
wealth and invention beyond the vista of our imagination, yet, if 
they are worthy of the heritage we transmit to them, and equal to 
the responsibilities and duties which are theirs, they will stand un- 
covered in that presence and exclaim: "We have much that our 
fathers had not, we know much that our fathers knew not, but in 
this august company who can deny that their crops were men. " 



Address of Mr. Rice, of Massachusetts. 

Mr. Speaker : I bring a tribute from Massachusetts and place it 
reverently on the grave of Logan. He had not, I believe, a drop of 
our blood in his veins ; I do not know that he was ever within our 
borders excepting once or twice briefly in transit. His manners, his 
method of thought and speech, his political ideas, were not always 
by any means in accord with ours, yet I venture to say this soldier 
and statesman of the West, at the time of his death, held the first 
place in the hearts of the soldiers and common people of Massachu- 
setts, who are her chiefest pride. 

Few men in this age and country combined in so marked degree 
the characteristics which go to make up personal popularity. His 
massive frame, his glowing eye, his splendid strength, his undaunted 
courage would have made a hero of him at any time in any land. 
He would have " held the bridge " with Horatius, " in the brave days 
of old;" he would have led, amid clashing swords and spears, the 
wild warriors who came down from the north to the sack of Rome ; 
he would have couched lane.' in battle orin tourney with the ton-b- 
est of Froissart's knights. As a patriot soldier he was bravest amoi i g 
tbo brave. At Belmont, at Donelson, at Vicksburg, at Atlanta. In- 
Led where any dared to follow. He neverdodged al.ulln orturned 



Address of Mr. Rice, of Massachusetts. 141 

his face from the front. Had he been called to do it, he would 
have scaled Wagner by the side of Shaw, or have kept his saddle, 
as Lowell did in the Valley, after his death wound, to lead one more 
charge against the breaking but still stubborn foe. 

To these splendid physical traits he added a self -culture, a cool- 
ness of judgment, and a power and quickness of comprehension 
which made him a consummate general. At the first signal from 
Manassas he marched out of Washington as a common soldier with 
a musket on his shoulder. Four years later, the war all over, he rode 
back in triumph a major-general at the head of the proud Army of 
the Tennessee. Had this been all, when he died a grateful nation 
would have kept vigil at his bier, for a mighty man had fallen ; the 
beauty of the land lay dead in her high places. 

But this was not all. By the sword peace had been won, but 
peace as well as war was to have work and triumphs for Logan. 
For more than twenty years he served in Congress, making his way 
by force of will, by clearness of judgment, by appreciation of pop- 
ular instincts, and by honesty of purpose and action in such a degree 
that at his death his fame as a Senator was scarcely eclipsed by his 
■ »ld fame as a soldier. 

Logan was born poor and died poor. Perhaps he never knew the 
grinding poverty through which Lincoln and Webster and Garfield 
passed, but he had to make his own way in the world and earn his 
own bread. He was not much versed in the learning of the schools, 
but he learned readily with his eyes and ears, and few men in the 
Senate knew how to use the English language more correctly and 
effectively. Had he been bom rich, had he been trained in the cur- 
riculum of the universities, he could never have been Logan. Not 
dowu from the heights, but up through tribulation and toil and suf- 
fering come the leaders of a free people, the founders, the guardians, 
the saviors of free institutions. Wealth is a good thing ; we all want 
it : education a better : all should seek it. But wealth and education 
in these days have their dangers. The gilded youth who dawdle out 
their little lives in the clubs and streets of city life either die unknown 
and unseen or are rudely jostled when they come in contact with the 
actualities of life. Let them take thought lest they be handicapped 
by what ought to help. Only hard work of hand and of head will 
make Logans. Unless ahalt is soon called in wasteful extravagance, 
in servile imitation of foreign customs, in selfish living, the time will 



142 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

come when it will be easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye 
than for a rich man to find a seat in the high places of popular confi- 
dence and trust. Logan— the poor man, the hard-working man— was 
full of popular sympathies. As a general he always cared for his sol- 
diers; as a legislator the humblest and poorest were the ones he strove 
first to serve. He never cringed to the wealthy and powerful that 
thrift might follow fawning. He was a true gentleman, not polished 
in the ways of the courtier, or refined in the finesses of social life. 
Had he lived in the days of chivalry he would not very much have 
graced his lady's bower, or have sung very softly troubadour lays un- 
der her lattice, but he would have leaped into the lion's den or the 
raging whirpool to win and wear her glove ; he would have faced 
any odds in defense of her honor. Bluff, hearty, honest, he never 
sought to conceal, and he could not deceive. 

Logan was a manly man. He knew his own merits, and that they 
were not always fully recognized and rewarded ; but he accepted 
what came to him, not always, perhaps, quite patiently, but with no 
abatement of patriotic ardor and effort. "Greater is he who ruleth 
his own spirit than he who taketh a city." This fiery, passionate 
man could control himself. He could watch and direct the move- 
ments of a great army, forgetting none of the duties of a general, 
while his blood was boiling with the excitement of a common soldier 
in the fierce joy of battle. He could, and repeatedly did, accept the 
second place when he felt that the first was his by right. 

All his life he was a public man. From law, from all private busi- 
ness he turned away. He was not ashamed to seek and hold office. 
In youth, clerk of courts, member of the legislature, member of 
Congress, the army, and then legislator and statesman to the end. 
He did not consider it a mean ambition to strive to gain favor and 
distinction in the public service. I do not believe that he was ash a med 
when called a politician, or that he thought it a thing for which to 
apologize that he sought to be true to his friends and to help those to 
offices for which they were fitted who had helped him to rise. I pre- 
sume he felt that a man who is willing to do honesi work has as good 
a right to seek it in public service as elsewhere, and that he deserve 
credit rather than ridicule and hostile criticism for being willing to 
accept and perform the duties of public office. 

He gave his whole life to these duties; not its dregs, not what was 
left after he had achieved success in a profession, or a fortune in 



Address of Mr. Caswell, of Wisconsin. 143 

trade, but accepted, as long as lie should live, comparative poverty, 
hard work, obloquy, the abuse of rivals, and the misrepresentations 
of those who were incapable of comprehending his character and his 
aims for the privilege of serving his country in the manner he had 
chosen. I declare his life to have been quite as worthy and honor- 
able as that of the men who follow their own selfish pursuits and 
sneer at politics and politicians while they busily ply their muck- 
rakes to make their piles of dirty wealth a little larger. All honor 
and praise to the man who is ready to give to his country a life of 
hard and honest work, and is not ashamed to be pointed at as an 
office-holder and politician for so doing. Let the young men of the 
country be encouraged by the example of Logan and learn that 
there is no higher ambition than to fill worthily positions of public 
trust. 

Logan was a strong man. He never counted his friends or his 
foes. He knew his own position, and if he could not win others to 
it he was ready to defend it alone. 

He is dead — dead in the maturity of his strength and the plenitude 
of his powers— but his example lives. He has won a high place in 
our national Pantheon; his name will live in history; his memory is 
a precious legacy to those whom he has left behind him. Is this all ? 
Has the strong man utterly passed away? Stands he no longer as a 
tower of strength for refuge and defense? Not so. It can not be. 
The bugle-call should not sound " lights out " at his tomb. His light 
is not out; though invisible to us, it still shines. Somewhere in the 
infinite realm of .immortal life the great spirit still lives, clad in the 
panoply of a rich and well-improved earthly experience, ready for 
such service at any time and anywhere as opportunity shall offer 
and Omnipotence appoint. 



Address of Mr. Caswell, of "Wisconsin. 

Mr. Speaker : Again it has become our duty, as it is our pleasure, 
to add a tribute of respect to the memory of a distinguished public 
servant — one whose name has long been engraven upon the history 
of this country. We have put aside the business of the day that we 
may bear testimony to his great worth and excellence. 

John A. Logan was neighbor to the people of my State. He was 
loved and esteemed by them as if he had been one of their number. 



144 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

His great public service had brought him in contact with them. and. 
in fact, with the people everywhere in the Northwest, where he 
spent the most of his life. He had learned their wishes, and had re- 
sponded in a way that met their approval. In one sense we are but 
creatures of the present hour ; it is but a question of time for most 
men to pass away even from the memory of their contemporaries, 
but such was not the destiny of John A. Logan. He lived for a 
better purpose, and he will live on, while millions pass behind the 
veil to be heard of no more. 

God gave Logan a talent and force of character seldom found 
among men. 

Born in humble life, he passed through the school of experience 
on his upward journey. He thus learned to feel the wants and ne- 
cessities of the common people. His self -education taught him les- 
sons not easily forgotten. The life he led in his early days gave 
him much .strength and popularity among his fellows. 

Every country must have its leaders. The cares of state rest upon 
official heads, but principle and sentiment are nursed and crystal- 
lized by those unburdened with official w T ork. 

A country like this, where gather people from every nation of the 
globe, uniting under one flag, having in view the formation of a 
government for their mutual protection, must have leaders — men 
who advise, direct, and command for the common good. 

Logan was a natural leader, both as a soldier and as a statesman. 
He had few equals in either sphere, and still less in the two com- 
bined. It is difficult to determine in which character he excelled 
most. In either he served his country nobly and well. 

As a soldier he was fearless ; was as gallant as he was brave, as 
generous as he was firm. 

In the House of Representatives, and afterwards in the Senate, he 
was the author and advocate of measures of great national interest. 
He took front rank as a legislator, always advocating whatever he 
believed to be right and for the interest of the people. If he erred, 
i t was an error of the head and not of the heart. 

When the late war broke out he was not politically identified with 
the administration then in power. He was not in harmony with the 
party that had its conduct and responsibility. But his love for the 
old flag that had once led him to victory, his devotion and loyalty 
to the country that had given him birth, lifted him far above party. 



Address of Mr. Caswell, of Wisconsin. 145 

its ties or prejudice. It was enough for him that his country was in 
peril. Whatever party could suppress the rebellion was the party 
of John A. Logan. 

The memories of his youth when he marched in triumph to the 
capital of Mexico revived his love and devotion for his country, 
and again he was found in the front ranks of our Army. He went 
to battle not as a stranger, but with a practical experience that well 
fitted him for duty. We had generals trained in the arts of war, 
men of experience, educated for the purpose, men with commissions 
and arms already in line. But these were not sufficient. Our coun- 
try called for volunteers. With them and the millions behind tliem 
everything was possible ; without them, nothing. General Logan 
was the representative of that element. He was early in the field. 
Thousands followed him, and the Union Army was swollen to enor- 
mous proportions. These were the soldiery that saved the Union; 
without them it could never have been saved. It matters little 
whether Logan was always right or seldom wrong, the ends which 
he gained hide from view the manner in which they were accom- 
plished. His military career was a success, and history will record 
him as a great leader of men. 

When the war was over he turned again to the pursuits of civil 
life, but he could not long remain a student of his own affairs. He 
saw before him a disordered Government and a suffering people, a 
people who had claims upon the country they had saved. He obeyed 
the summons that sent him to the national Capitol. Here he made a 
record of which we are proud, a record that places him with those 
whose names will be revered by generations yet to come. 

As an orator General Logan had few superiors. His force and logic 
gave emphasis to his easy flow of language, and he carried conviction 
with marvelous success. He was industrious, a close student, and 
deep thinker. Fearlessly he approached his subject and pressed it 
upon his hearers with great force and elocpience. 

For many years he has been the acknowledged friend of the Union 
soldier. The man who had spent his vigor and was wasting away 
or who was wounded or maimed found in him a most earnest advo- 
cate. He treated such as the wards of the nation. His sympathetic 
heart felt the sacrifice they had made that our country might live. 
He believed in them and in their patriotism when they risked their 
lives and went to the field. He would have placed the strong arm 

10 L 



146 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

of the Government about them and stayed them up in their declining 
years. For these men his liberality had no limit. 

The year which has just passed has laid to rest some of the grand- 
est men of our time. The angel of death has selected from the wisest 
and the best. Among them no one will be mourned more than he 
of whom we speak to-day. He was known and red of by all men, by 
the young and the old. In every State, in every city and town, the 
name of John A. Logan is dear to those who love their country and 
its defenders. 

His death carries sorrow and grief into the homes of the millions, 
and they join us to-day in these words of praise. 

His great service as a soldier in two wars, his distinguished ability 
as a statesman, his power and eloquence upon the rostrum, his devo- 
tion to the poor and the suffering have made him dear to the Ameri- 
can people, and he will be remembered and loved as the great soldier 
statesman by generations yet to come. 



Address of Mr. O'Hara, of North Carolina. 

Mr. Speaker : The man who so conducts the order of his life that 
when the summons conies bidding him join the majority beyond, and 
leave vacant his chair at the family board, the social circle, or the 
nation's council, where he was wont to be met, as to leave behind him 
indelibly impressed upon his age marks or traits of character worthy 
of emulation, that man has not lived in vain ; the world and his fel- 
lows are benefited by his being. And such a life may fitly be said to 
be like unto " a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth 
forth his fruit in his season, whose leaves shall not wither," and 
whom no evil can befall, whether he be alive or dead. 

Sir, when the history of our times shall come to be written by the 
just and impartial historian the order of a life as I have just de- 
scribed will be accredited to the late General John A. Logan. 

To-day the Ibmse of Representatives pauses and for the time being 
sets aside the work of legislation that must for weal orwoeaffecl 
the living, and with bowed heads and hearts rilled with sympathy 
face the stern realities of death, and recognize that a great light has 
gone out from among the nation's counsellors, no more to raise his 
voice in defense of right, or lift an arm to strike a blow in behalf of 
just ice and protection to the weak and humble poor, who from every 



Address of Mr. O'Hara, of North Carolina. 147 

city, village, and hamlet in the land bewail his loss, and join with 
us at this hour in placing to his memory from the storehouse of 
thought ointments of sweet-smelling savor, mingled with fragrant 
flowers, plucked from the garden of kindness, sown by the noble 
deeds of him whom they called friend. Sir, my acquaintance with 
the late Senator Logan was not such an one as would entitle me to 
speak of his many great and noble qualities as father, husband, or 
friend, or soldier. This I leave for those who enjoyed a place in his 
social circle, and whose contact with him in every-day life gave them 
the opportunities to speak as they have of him in that regard. 

Hence in the brief remarks that I shall submit I will speak of the 
illustrious dead from that portion of his life that shines forth with 
such effulgency as to strike the admiration of all, whether friend or 
foe. Sir. if there was any one trait of that strong character that ap- 
peared stronger than the other it was his great love for his country 
and the deep and abiding faith that his country was destined by God 
himself to be that coimtry in which liberty in its broadest and most 
comprehensive term should find its greatest fulfillment. It was, sir, 
this love of country that made him search after truth, and when 
found, according to the lights before him he disregarded party tenets 
or dictation ; yea, even the counsel of friends if they in the least ap- 
peared to jar with what his reason and his heart suggested to be for 
the interest of his whole country. He maybe charged by those who 
are accustomed blindly to follow leadership, or to look only upon the 
surface for results, of being sometimes harsh and impetuous with 
those who did not agree with him. Yet. sir, such, if they would 
delve deep for causes and effects, will find that such a nature as his, 
accustomed to reach results by direct reasoning with truth, avoiding 
ingenious methods, could have no patience nor tolerance for that 
sophistry which would endeavor to make the worst appear the better 
reason ; and having himself a strong and determined will, abject 
submission to the will or dictation of others when in conflict with 
what he believed right could not be understood or appreciated by 
him. 

No greater example of love for one's country can be found than 
Logan's patriotic act when he exchanged a seat upon this floor for 
a common soldier's lotamid the stern realities and severity of carnp 
life when the well-being of his country was threatened, the Union 
endangered, and sound to arms fur the right was heard all over the 



148 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

land. How well lie kept that pledge he then made let the answer 
be given by the fifty-two well-fought battles in which he was suc- 
cessfully engaged from July \.'l. lstil, to April 26, 1865. 

It was in that great struggle of arms, when reason had resigned her 
throne to force, and slavery, with its attendant evils of prejudice and 
malcontent, demanded a larger recognition than it then shared, or a 
dismembered Union, that General Logan saw that his country's great- 
ness and happiness could only be permanently secured by plucking 
from her escutcheon the degraded ensignia of human slavery. 

As the effulgent blaze of this great truth flashed upon his mental 
vision he quickly disregarded the teachings and erroneous doctrines 
of his youth, and swiftly, without apology or excuse, espoused the 
cause of liberty for all men under the Constitution of our common 
country. Others might have halted to consider consequences, or 
been laggards in the race, endeavoring for policy's sake to find or 
render excuses for a change in their opinion and action, but to 
Logan's noble nature excuse or apology was unnecessary ; to dare to 
do right with the lights before him was enough, and none dared to 
question the sincerity of his motives or action. General Logan 
engaged in the conflict of arms to preserve the Union of States with 
a belief that the Dred Scott decision was right and just: he came 
from that conflict with a greater love for his country and the Union 
of States, but with a firm belief that the black man should have the 
same rights and protection under our Constitution and laws that all 
other men had and enjoyed. Ashe loved his country when her laws 
recognized property in man, he adored her with an infinite adora- 
tion when all her children were acknowledged equals before her laws. 
If in the ranks as an humble follower before, now he assumed a 
leadership which was gladly accorded him. 

From the day he doffed his military garb and assumed his position 
in civil life he boldly proclaimed on every occasion by word and 
deed that the nation's strength was secures! and best when all her 
children enjoyed the full benefit of equal laws, justly and impartially 
administered, ami for his party he would discharge his full duty to 
God, his country, and humanity. 

Deeds like these will live in soul;' and story and \«- recounted when 
and wherever the bards or historians gather to recite noble deeds 
for the emulation of the youth of this or any other land. Next to 
General LOGAN'S great love lor his country was his love and vener- 



Address of Mr. Goff, of West Virginia. 149 

ation for Ms comrades in arms, a love and veneration so pnre and 
holy that it blessed both him that gave and him that received, so 
that when the dread summons came that bade that noble soul sunder 
the golden cord of life and leave its cerements of clay, to put off 
mortality and put on immortality, every one of his late comrades in 
arms felt that not only their great volunteer leader had crossed the 
river invisible to mortal view, but also that a friend, an advocate, 
and, yea. almost a father, had been taken from them. 

Mr. Speaker, this ceremony is not solely in honor of the dead, 

for neither — 

Can storied urn, or animated bust. 

Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? 
Can honor's voice provoke the silent dust. 
Or flatt'ry soothe the dull cold ear of death ? 

But, sir, it is that the lesson of this noble life, ended so suddenly, 
yet filled with honor and usefulness, may be emphasized and adorned 
as far as we are able to emphasize and adorn it; that the same love 
of country, love for one's fellow, may be held up as a noble exam- 
ple to those who may come after us. and that posterity may know 
that the American Republic has and can produce heroes equal to if 
not surpassing in valor, fidelity, and patriotism the fabled heroes of 
ancient Greece or Rome. With full measure the lesson comes to us 

that — 

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 

And all that beauty, all that wealth, a'er gave. 
Await alike the inevitable hour; 

The paths of glory lead but to the grave. 



Address of Mr. Goff, of West Virginia. 

Mr. Speaker : We honor ourselves in honoring the memory of 
John A. Logan. Nothing that we can say or do to-day can add to 
nor detract from the renown of our distinguished dead, for it is no less 
than fame proclaims it, and it could be no greater than it is. Those 
who knew him well will cherish their recollections of him through 
life, and the nation in whose interests lie lived, for whose supremacy 
he contended, will, in chiseled marble and enduring bronze, cause 
him to speak with lips that will move not. yet talk, to those who 
loved him in life, who sincerely mourn him in death, and to millions 
innumerable of those who, coming with the generations yet unborn, 



150 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

will honor his patriotism, his honesty, his sterling worth, and will 
worship at the shrine of human liberty, at which he knelt with all 
the earnestness of his grand manhood. 

Mr. Speaker, General Logan was the idol of the citizen soldiery 
of the war for the Union, and he was worthy of their admiration, 
for he was as grand as his cause and as true as steel. It is not dis- 
paragement to our grand galaxy of volunteer heroes to say that 
among the many he was the one. As the magnificent image of the 
Christ-God in the great cathedral of . Monreale dominates the im- 
mensity of the building, as Pallas ruled supreme in the Parthenon, 
and Zeus in his Olympian temple, so does the name of Logan alone 
transcendental stand among that throng of heroes, dominating as 
with a single impulse the hearts of those who, neglecting all pur- 
suits, abandoning all professions, leaving home, wife, children, all, 
of every creed and all parties, marched under the banner of the 
Union ''into the very jaws of death" and tasted of the bitter dregs 
of the cup of sorrow and of pain in order that republican institu- 
tions might not perish from the face of the earth. 

General Logan lived in an eventful period and died in the full- 
ness of his glory. He was an active participant in the memorable 
struggles that will render the ninteenth century famous in battle 
and in history. He was no laggard in the strife, but he was always 
to the front with the banner in his hands. He was determined in 
his purposes, sincere in his convictions, and grand in his achieve- 
ments. Contending for republican government, he lived to see the 
Constitution of his country cleansed of impurities and firmly estab- 
lished on the eternal principles of truth and justice. He was a dev- 
otee at the shrine of human liberty, and he lived to see all men free. 
He believed in the education of the people, and he lived to sec his 
country blessed with the grandest system of free universal educa- 
tion that a propitious Providence has ever permitted the children of 
men to enjoy. With all the earnestness of his impulsive nature did 
he love the starry banner of our independence, the emblem of our 
nation's power, and he lived to see it typify, at last, all that is great 
in human action, all that is grand in human thought. 

It is not laudation for us to say that in all these stirring scenes 
and wonderful changes lie played a leader's part and that he stamped 
his strong individuality on these pages, so grandly written in the 
book of our history. It is but common justice for us to concede it. 



Address of Mr. Osborne, of Pennsylvania. 151 

He is dead ; lie has gone. It seems but yesterday that he was here, 
that we welcomed him with the cordial greeting he always received, 
and to which he was always entitled, and now the places that have 
known him so long and so well will see him not again forever, and 
yet he will live here for all time. He will he with us, Mr. Speaker, 
while we tarry, and he will stay after we have gone. His is one of 
tlmse illustrious lives that death can not destroy. 

Loving husband, kind father, honored statesman, grand soldier, 

true friend, honest man, may your sleep in the quiet city of the dead 

be the rest of those who, 

Sustained and soothed 
By an unfaltering trust, approach their grave 
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams; 

and may the boundless mercy of the lowly Nazarene, who gave us 

the precepts of your true and Christian life, and who, as the Christ 

King, washed all your sins away, save you to the eternal glories of 

the heavenly kingdom ; that such a life and such a death as yours 

proclaim must be. 



Address of Mr. Osborne, of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Speaker: We come to pay tribute to the memory of John A. 
Lou an, whose name has rung through the world and won its meed 
of praise. 

Living men may contemplate his character and draw from it les- 
sons of purest virtue and loftiest patriotism. His whole career was 
a bright example of unselfish devotion to duty. 

Indeed the Republic drew profit from his life. In centuries to 
come, amid the grandeur of its power and the unclouded splendor of 
its renown, the historian of our country will point to Logan as one 
who did much in his day to save the Republic from death. 

Sounding words can not tell the strength of mind, the physical 
courage, the daring and fortitude that made up his character. When 
he led our flag to victory and gave to glory and to fame the fields on 
which armies struggled, when amid the carnage of the hour he rode 
along his line, suffering with pain from bleeding wounds, inspiring 
his troops with his own brave spirit, until like a restless wave tiny 
swept away every obstacle, the selfish and ungenerous may have 
spoken unkindly of him, but now that he is beyond the reach of am- 



152 Life and Character of John, A. Logan. 

bition the man does not live who would have the name of John A. 
Logan forgotten. His is a name that the world will not willingly 
let die. He needs no splendid arches of victory, no monumental pile 
pointing toward heaven and covered all over with the story of his 
deeds to perpetuate his memory, for he is enshrined in the hearts of 
the people, there to remain as long as a sentiment of justice is felt 
or a chord of sympathetic virtue vibrates in a human heart. 



Address of Mr. Payson, of Illinois. 

Mr. Speaker : Death with equal pace knocks at the palaces of the 
rich and the cabins of the poor. 

So often, and oh! how sadly, has this Congress been reminded of 
the uncertainty of human life in the removal of members; and how 
many conspicuous in national affairs have been taken in a few brief 
months ! 

Chief among them all was he whose death has occasioned this 
meeting. It is held not as an exhibition of personal grief or sadness, 
but as a formal recognition of, and a sincere tribute to. honest worth, 
to duty well performed; due in justice to his memory, coming from 
those who knew him in his public career, the record of which will 
prove an incentive to emulation to those who are left and are yet to 
come. 

The time, therefore, taken in the pause in the hurry and bustle of 
the business of legislation in stating estimates of the character and 
eulogies — considerate always, if not tender and loving — of departed 
brothers is not unprofitably spent. 

Mr. Speaker, General Logan was my friend, and I perform a sad 
duty to the memory of one whose good will and confidence was so 
prized in his lifetime by me when I attempt to add a single leaf to 
the garland of tribute which shall be rendered to him and his mem- 
ory this day. 

I am aware too, sir, that nothing that we say or do hero will add 
to the sense of the appreciation of the American people of General 
Logan, of his excellent character, his splendid record as a husband 
and father, a citizen, a soldier, a statesman, a, friend. 

The task of giving the details of his wonderful military career I 
leave to those who know from personal experience its history and its 
success. 



Address vf Mr. Payson, of Illinois. 153 

The fortune of assignment in these ceremonies absolves me from 
the propriety of reciting the successes of his civil life, as these have 
heen so well stated by those who have preceded me, and further ref- 
erence would be only repetition. And so I speak of him as my 
friend ; as I knew him ; as he impressed himself upon me ; as a man 
whose life was devoted to the public good, as it was spent almost 
wholly in the public service. 

His chief characteristic to me was his earnestness in whatever he 
was engaged. His devotion to his friends was conspicuous for its 
intensity. His love for the soldiers of the civil war— his companions 
in arms— was best evidenced by his labors for their interests and by 
their affection for him. His affection for his State was as that of the 
Roman for "the city of seven hills." Duty, honor, and integrity 
were active principles in his daily life, and he squared his conduct 
by their requirements. In his affections he was generous and ardent; 
his bravery, his courage was always conspicuous; true in his nature 
and of gentle heart, and magnanimous in all his dealings. 

Patriotism with him was more than a sentiment ; it was a deep- 
seated principle. 

Love of country, its institutions, its Constitution, and its laws, 
was his inspiration from the days of his early manhood. 

To insincerity he was a stranger; to him conviction carried with 
it the sense of duty to follow it; and with his bravery, his frankness, 
no one was ever in ignorance as to his position on any question. To 
such a degree was this carried that at times his position in his party 
was hazarded by fearless assertion of his ideas of right as opposed 
to those of mere temporary policy or expediency. 

His support of friend or measure was never halfdiearted or grudg- 
ing, and his opposition was always earnest, vigorous, and determined. 

He was generous to a fault; though of strong will, sometimes 
n 'i;-ar< led as stul >1 u >rn and imperii ms, yet this grew out of the intensity 
of his nature, and was always subordinated to his keen sense of right. 

General LOGAN was a born leader. He was endowed by nature 
with all the attributes and qualities for such a position. Believing 
that his party was right because its principles and policy were so 
largely shaped by him. with his energy and dash, his vigor and ear- 
nest aess, his intellectual power and breadth of mind vested him with 
the right, as well as the ability, to command the following which he 
had in our State as well as in national affairs. 



154 Life and Character of John A. Locjau, 

He had the aggressiveness -which always comes from a true courage. 

Not gifted with the arts of the mere rhetorician, yet the masses 
of the people were always deeply moved and largely controlled by 
his earnest appeals; he had an eloquence which always accompanies 
intense convictions, and which always made itself felt where smoother 
phrases would have failed. 

His intensity and devotion to his own party, leading to his vigor, ms 
assaults upon the other, made him often the target of calumny, but all 
shafts of slander fell idle and harmless, injuring only the originators. 

He was above them all; the slanders of political campaigns ended 
with them; no friend was ever weakened by them; he rested then, as 
now. above them all, "in the eternal sunshine of a perpetual fame." 

He was ambitious; he was stimulated by the success which he at- 
tained, because deserved, to reach the highest position of honor and 
trust in the nation; and his friends cherished the confident hope 
that, had his life been spared, he would have attained that. 

His life was a success. Born of the common people, without early 
advantages of education or scholarly association, earning successive 
promotions by the favor of the people, with their confidences and 
trusts he reached the Senate of the United States, the highest point 
in political preferment in the nation but one. 

He died the deserved possessor of these honors and left his family 
that best of heritage, a reputation untarnished, an integrity unim- 
paired, and a feeling on the part of the whole people that the loss in 
his death was one common to all. 

Of him it may be truly said : 

Divinely gifted man, 

Whose life in low estate began, 

And on a simple village green; 

Who breaks his birth's invidious bars. 
And grasps the skirts of happy chance 
And breasts the blows of circumstance, 

And grapples with Ids evil stars : 

Who makes by force Ids merit known, 

And lives to clutch the golden keys 

To mold a mighty State's decrees, 
And shape the whisper of the throne ; 

And moving up from high to higher, 

Becomes, on fortune's crowning slope, 

The pillar of a people's hope. 
The center of a world's desire. 



Address of Mr. Brady, of Virginia. 155 



Address of Mr. Brady, of Virginia. 

Mr. Speaker : The heart that would not be sad and the eye that 
would not be dim while memory in its many forms clusters around 
the dead patriot, soldier, and statesman in whose honor the nation's 
Representatives are to-day assembled must be hard and dry indeed. 

Amid grief so deep and so universal no words of mine can fitly 
portray the sorrow of the volunteer soldiers of the war fi >r the main- 
tenance of the Union over the irreparable loss of their grand chieftain. 
The heart speaks loudest when the lips will not move. 

John A. Logan was regarded as national property. His genius, 
his virtues, his great services in peace and in war, were esteemed a 
part of the inheritance of the whole people. Bold and direct in his 
opinions and actions, however they were sustained or combated, he 
was nevertheless admired by all for his great abilities as he was hon- 
orei I and respected for his purity of character. His fame was national, 
and his loss has been felt as national. The whole country, not only 
his State which loved and honored him, mourns over his sad death. 
The evidences of genuine sorrow in all sections of our country, when 
his demise was announced, indicates a strong national sympathy, a 
bond of union which jtolitical differences cannot weaken, much less 
destroy. 

General Logan was at the top among the great heroes of the Union 
during and since the war ; he won immortality on the field and in the 
forum ; he had impressed himself upon the age, and he is missed as 
a shining light extinguished in the darkest hour of the night. 

Mr. Speaker, "the chevalier of the army of the West, without 
stain and without reproach," John A. Logan, was the son of an Irish 
rebel of '98. It has been said that he was of Scotch ancestry, but this 
is a mistake. General Logan himself, at the reception given in his 
honor by the citizens of Virginia City, Nev., on his return from the 
last national encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic held 
at San Francisco, in answer to a question inrefation to his ancestry, 
publicly declared that there was not a drop of Indian blood in his 
veins, that his father was a pure Irishman, and that although his 
mother was born in the State of North Carolina, her father and 
mother were both pure Irish. Dr. John Logan, General Logan's 
father, was very active as the associate in Ireland of Wolfe Tone and 



15£ Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

other Irish rebels in the organization of the United Irishmen of "98, 
and on account of this activity he was forced to leave the land of his 
forefathers and come to this country. Dr. Logan and the other Irish 
rebels of '98 were inspired by the noble deeds of patriotic Irishmen in 
our Revolutionary war. 

The fame and the glory of their countrymen. Jeremiah O'Brien 
and General Sullivan, Commodore Barry and General Pickens, 
General Stark and the Rutledges, Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, 
and Anthony Wayne, Sergeant Jasper and General Richard Mont- 
gomery, General Knox and Charles Thompson, and many others, 
was upon the lips and deep in the hearts < if the '98 men at home, and 
the Irish blood, so freely shed in America's battles for liberty, had 
taken root upon Irish soil. And so it was that John A. Logan in- 
herited from his Irish father that love for the Union, patriotism, and 
devotion to civil liberty which made him famous among Americans, 
and which, at the outbreak of the recent war, naturally led him to 
declare for the preservation of this glorious Union, and impelled him 
to shoulder his musket and to fight for Liberty and Union to the 
finish. 

I shall not recount the splendid story of his life. His deeds in war 
and in peace have gained for him imperishable renown. 

I. myself, the son of an Irishman, maybe pardoned for referring 
to General Logan's ancestry, and to the part the race from which he 
descended took, not only in our Revolutionary struggle, but also in 
our late terrible conflict for the Union. As Andrew Jackson fought 
at New Orleans, McDonough at Lake Champlain, Shields and Rielly 
in the Mexican war, so did the Irish regiments, the Irish brigade, 
and the Irish legion perform deeds of valor unsurpassed in the recent 
war. Who among the surviving veterans of the Union can ever 
forget Logan and Sheridan, Harney and Mulligan. Kearney and 
Hayes, Baker, French, McCall, Corcoran. Meagher, and thousands 
of other gallant Irish and Irish-American soldiers who fought and 
died that the nation might live. Alas! John A. Logan, the foremost 
general of volunteers, is dead. I think I can hear some comrade sa \ . 
" Would that he had* fallen on the battlefield with the flag he loved 
so well waving over him. and the shout of triumph ringing in his 
ears." No; his task at the close of the war was only half finished. 
He has since bravely fought on other battlefields, and in the press of 
the continue,! conflid lie conquered peace, prosperity, and happiness 
fur Ids country. His .journey from the cradle to the -rave is done. 



Address of Mr. Hitt, of Illinois. 157 

Brave, gallant, honest, noble-hearted Logan tenderly loved the 
Boys in Blue. Beloved leader, faithful, steadfast friend, they will 
never forget you. Veterans of the Union Army, and old soldiers of 
t he Mexican War, it is manly to weep and to mourn over the grave 
of General Logan, for your most devoted, your most powerful friend 
and advocate in the councils of the nation is no more. 

He it was that originated the beautiful memorial services over the 
graves of the soldier dead. Crippled veterans and stalwart soldiers, 
aged mothers— ye, whose sons were sacrificed upon the country's bat- 
tlrtields— -broken-hearted widows, comrades of the Grand Army and 
Loyal Legion, sons and daughters of the Boys in Blue, upon each ob- 
servance of that day gather the most beautiful, the most fragrant 
flowers of May and deck the grave of John A. Logan. 



Address of Mr. Hitt, of Illinois. 

Mr. Speaker: The death of General Logan has suddenly removed 
the greatest of the volunteers who survived. The shock of surprise 
and sorrow was scarcely greater here, where we suddenly missed him 
from each day*s action, than it was throughout the whole country, 
so closely was he knit to the hearts of tens of thousands who watched 
from day to day all that he did — and he did more than other men 
all the time. His abrupt taking off in the midst of greatest activity 
was something akin to falling in battle ; for there was no sign of 
■(iniiiii;- age or decaying strength in his thick jet-black hair, his keen 
eye, and his powerful frame that stood four-square to all the winds 
that blow. He was, as he looked, a hearty man, of sturdy, tenacious, 
Scotch-Irish stock. He drew his blood from positive, independent 
characters, both father and mother. 

The surroundings in which his youth was passed tested and devel- 
op,. I these qualities. He was of a good family. The people and 
events where he lived were much like those around Lincoln, and the 
two men had many qualities in common, owing largely to their sim- 
ilar surroundings. One was an aversion to albaffectations. Direct- 
ness and simplicity in action, directness in expression marked both 
these men. In all their utterances quotations, however pretty and 
tempting, rarely had a place ; and in their action, from first to last 
in their long careers, each step was determined by an independent 
and singularly cl< >ar j udgment. Discipline of mind had been attained, 



158 



Life and Character of John A. Logan. 



not in the great academies, but in the intensity of application to 
affairs, to the problems of daily existence, that from the beginning 
insured success in the constant struggles of life. They were hard 
students, learning the lesson of each day perfectly to apply it at once 
to action. 

Logan commenced his life in the fashion so common to ambitious 
young men in our country — studying law and soon striking off into 
politics. Within a year from the time be commenced studying law 
he was so practical a politician, and so successful, that he was elected 
county clerk. Still working at the law, studying for awhile in the 
Louisville University, and still diverging into politics with each op- 
portunity, he reached the legislature when just past his twenty-fifth 
year, and then for awhile became prosecuting attorney. There are 
several gentlemen mi this floor who can remember well the reputa- 
tion he so rapidly gained as a dashing, aggressive criminal lawyer — 
the untiring energy with which he tried a case. He soon became 
one of the Democratic leaders in the legislature, and, still a young 
man, in 1859, came to this body. 

I vividly remember him at that time when, I believe, he was the 
youngest member of the Illinois delegation, full of strength and 
youth, and of a hearty defiant nature, always ready for work, quick 
to help in a measure with all his might, and prompt to meet blow for 
blow with all his zeal and force in every contest. Logan did not 
then take as wide views of public questions as in after life, but what 
he saw he saw in complete clearness, and in his devotion to his po- 
litical views accepting all their consequences with a boldness and 
sincerity that looked like audacity. He had both moral and physical 
courage, and he quickly showed it after he came here in that stormy 
Congress. It was a turbulent time, foreshadowing the bloodier 
strife soon to come. He was an intense partisan, a Democrat of the 
strongest partisanship in that angry hour. Suddenly when the at- 
tack was made upon his country, and the Union was in danger, he 
changed squarely. 

Think how much such a strong nature had to give up and over- 
come in his own heart when he abandoned his party and rushed in 
with those whom he hail not only opposed, but really had often de- 
tested. And this he did. not by halves, lmt throwing away every- 
thing at once, devoting his whole being to his country. It was a 
noble and exalted patriotism in a soul tried and purified by a great 



Address of Mr. Hitt, of Illinois. 159 

inward struggle, and then grandly consecrated to his country. In 
that memorable hour there were many instances of men who de- 
veloped great qualities before unknown to themselves. It is profit- 
able now, in these prosaic days of politics, that run on lower lines 
and colder questions when some of the chief party differences are mat- 
ters of calculation, to refresh our spirits by recurring to that heroic 
epoch when the shock of conflicting motives liberated the electricity 
of life and revealed the recesses of men's better natures. 

Then he became altogether a soldier. He had a natural aptitude 
for fighting. When hardly more than a boy he had had a dash of 
military life in the Mexican war, where he acquitted himself well, 
and, short as was the time he served, rose rapidly to honor and rank. 
In the greater war that followed he was utterly absorbed and devoted 
to the cause for which he fought. He had no other thought. He 
quit his seat in Congress and went out as a citizen v< ilunteer to share 
in the fight and the disaster of Bull Run. He hurried home and 
raised a regiment and plunged into the struggle. From the first 
fight at Belmont he was in the clang of arms, through marches, 
skirmishes, sieges, battles; advancing, retreating, defending, attack- 
inn-, as perfect a type of the great and successful soldier as ever 
lived. His strong frame and undaunted spirit was not subdued or 
broken by exposure, exhaustion, or the wounds five times received 
in battle. Pressing on continuously and upward, he rose higher in 
command with each battle and campaign until he ran the whole 
scale of military glory which he had begun a citizen without uniform, 
and from which he emerged a corps commander. 

His soldiers admired him with an enthusiasm that grew with the 
war and with his glory. They followed him with trusting confidence 
and they loved him then and always after. His warm heart an- 
swered in generous sympathy this affectionate admiration from his 
thousands of soldiers, and this was why he never for a moment for- 
got them or their interests in all his public life througn the more 
than twenty y«'ars that have passed since the war. All the 
world knows with what eloquence he pleaded their cause on this 
floor and in the Senate. Patiently and persistently he c< intended for 
them in a hundred parliamentary struggles over bills which con- 
cerned them. He pressed with passionate earnestness the claims of 
the broken soldier and the debt owing to him by that nation which 
was so rapidly forgetting him in its hurry to greatness and riches. 



160 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

And when their Senator comrade died the soldiers lost a friend 
whose devotion to them nothing hut death could diminish. There 
has been sorrow in the countless homes of soldiers, especially in the 
Northwest. 

Every member from that region who sits about me has been 
touched by the letters we constantly receive from constituents refer- 
ring to the loss of Logan. Their sorrow is akin to the anguish felt 
in his own family, by that silent fireside, where the honored lady 
who shared his labors and his triumphs now weeps through desolate 
days and nights for the noble husband so suddenly stricken down. 

He was a plain and approachable man. The soldier class respected 
him as a great captain, and they loved him because of his simple 
way of life. Poor in purse but rich in manly qualities, they felt 
that he was like unto them ; that they could go near him as a com- 
rade ; that he understood their troubles ; that he appreciated then- 
services and their sacrifices ; that their story never grew old to him 
though the war was over long ago. 

He was as bold and successful a manager in politics as in war. 
His political campaigns were always aggressive. He had strong be- 
liefs. His principles were clear to his own mind, and he pressed 
them with vehement eloquence, meeting controversy half way by 
tearless attack. When assailed he always turned his defense into a 
fierce assault. He was a most effective stump orator. As early as 
L858, in that famous campaign, led on either side by Lincoln and 
Douglas, and so fruitful of great consequences, he was one of the 
best speakers in the State. His voice was so powerful then, and for 
ten years afterwards, that it reached the farthest limits of the enor- 
mous gatherings that always assembled when the people heard that 
Logan was to speak. His positive ami direct style, and vigorous. 
plain reasoning went straight to men's minds. He had a rollicking 
humor at times, ami often, especially in his speeches during and 
after the war. a fiery rush of passionate appeal that swept great au- 
diences into stormy enthusiasm. 

In counsel with his party he inspired confidence by his own confi- 
dence, and also by his caution and his boldness combined. He knew 
Illinois politics even to the details of each county, and gradually 
became the leading spirit in the Republican party there, whom all 
consulted. The success that followed him like destiny through so 
many struggles confirmed his supremacy. When he died he was 
the representative Republican of that great State. 



Address of Mr. Hitt, of Illinois. \ft\ 

There was one specially manly trait in his character which all the 
politicians in Illinois knew full well — his devotion to the interests of 
a friend. No matter whether he was present to push his cause or 
not, Logan did not forget him. He was not vindictive enough to 
remember his anger long after a contest with an opponent, hut he 
was careful, even tenacious, in remembering a friend who had done 
or suffered for him, and never failed to watch over all that con- 
cerned him. 

The minor features and details in the long story of his life and its 
work will gradttally lose some of their interest as those who have 
known him pass away with advancing time. But there are some 
immense facts which will last in history and preserve his name 
through many centuries, keeping it fresh in the knowledge of men. 

First. The great service he rendered to his country as a soldier in 
the most critical period in the life of the Republic. 

Second. His incessant labors as a legislator for over thirty years 
in behalf of every measure that he believed to be f < >r the elevation 
of all the people. He made a mistake sometimes, but as soon as he 
discovered it he promptly changed and frankly avowed it. His win >le 
life was progress. He wanted to see the children of the poorest man 
educated. He encouraged love of country and care for those who 
suffered for it. He strove to build up and develop every interest 
and every industry that would tend to make the lives of poor men 
comfortable, intelligent, and happy. He gave in his own life an ex- 
ample of spotless integrity as a public man. He was full of ambi- 
tion, but nothing in it was sordid or venal. His ambitions were all 
noble. He gave the best years of his life to the cause of free gov- 
ernment and human liberty. 

Looking back to-day over his splendid career, cut off when he was 
in his highest usefulness, every one feels the great loss the nation 
suffered on the day when that incompleted life was abruptly termi- 
nated. Thei-e seemed many years before him still to serve the 
country he loved so well with his great powers matured by long and 
varied experience. 

But it is over. His work is done. The story of Logan's life will 
illumine the brightest pages of our history, and the fruits of his 
incessant labors, all devoted to his coitntry and his fellow-men, and 
known to all tlie world, will preserve his name and perpetuate his 
influence beyond his life through all the long hereafter. 

11 L 



162 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 



Address of Mr. Cox, of North Carolina. 

Mr. Speaker and Representatives : It gives me pleasure to 
unite with you in this Hall to do honor to the memory of the dis- 
tinguished soldier and statesman who was recently stricken down in 
the pride of manhood and in the midst of usefulness. I discharge 
this duty the more cheerfully as it is a manifestation of that broad 
and comprehensive patriotism which underlies the American charac- 
ter, and, in the presence of misfortune, unites us as one. We are 
all citizens of a great and glorious country, having common hopes 
and aspirations, and while it is still in eaidy manhood, and with 
material resources by no means developed, far surpasses in its ac- 
complishments all similar creations of the pa§t. We should and do 
appreciate the blessings and unusual advantages we here enjoy, and 
it is the inspiration arising from the freedom of our institutions and 
the progress of our people that made possible the successful career 
of John A. Logan. 

Seldom in history do we behold illustrious examples of success 
achieved through individual efforts in more than one special calling, 
and thus is made more emphatic the blended triumphs we in him 
behold. Without the heritage of fortune or the prestige of an illus- 
trious name, John A. Logan sprang from the loins of the people ; 
he claimed leadership among men, and by industry, integrity, and 
high resolves the ranks were open to him ; he marched to the front, 
and held his position until the last dread summons came. A man 
of strong purpose, unyielding disposition, and fearless in the asser- 
tion of his convictions, he was an adversary not willingly to be en- 
countered. He was too much of a partisan to suffer the betrayal of 
his party into the hands of those who would seek its advancement 
by questionable means and ambiguous methods. When he believed 
it necessary to assert the right and expose the wrong, his blows fell 
as unrelentingly on the head of a, party friend as on that of a politi- 
cal adversary. To maintain a. political leadership under such cir- 
cumstances required commanding talents and distinguished virtues. 

By the adjustment of his garments to suit the popular eye, by the 
adaptation of his language to catch the popular ear, ami by graces 
of manner to win the multitude Cicero succeeded in securing ap- 
plause for beautiful orations; bul the impression was transient. 



Address of Mr. Cox, of North Carolina, KJ3 

Not so with Demosthenes, the Athenian. He labored under a natural 
impediment of speech which welling thoughts commanded to be 
overcome ; and when he arose to address an audience they bent upon 
his words, their passions were aroused, and they cried out, "We 
will inarch against Philip; we will conquer or die." While I do 
not compare the subject of these ceremonies as a debater to this 
matchless orator, yet there was a resemblance between them. Lo- 
gan was without the adventitious aid of a polished education by 
which to express his thoughts, yet he drove directly to his subject, 
and never despaired so long as there was hope of success. Upon the 
battlefield, as in the forum, there was similarity of action. 

A volunteer soldier, he looked not so much to the method as to the 
object to be accomplished. He wielded not the high-tempered cimeter 
of a Saladin, but rather the trenchant, two-edged sword of Richard 
the Lion-Hearted. That one of his ardent, sanguine temperament 
should have presented only the dark side of his political shield to 
the Southern people after the close of our unrelenting and pro- 
tracted civil war was not unnatural. It was felt by us in the South 
that he did not appreciate the sincerity and magnanimity of our pro- 
fessions of patriotism, which we knew were honorable and patriotic. 
Between those who dared and suffered upon the ensanguined field 
there was no estrangement, no personal bitterness. Too many were 
the deeds of fraternal kindness rendered upon battlefields and in 
prisons, by those on either side, ever to be forgotten. 

I well remember that amid the terrible carnage at Chancellorsville, 
when the woods were fired by the discharge of artillery, as t lie wounded 
Federal soldiers were in danger of being subjected to the most agoniz- 
ing death by burning, others saw as w T ell as myself men from the 
confederate picket-line rush out under the fire of the foe and rake 
away the combustible leaves from around those disabled by theirown 
shot, I also remember soon after the close of this bloody drama, 
when the "pestilence that walketh in darkness and the destruction 
that wasteth at noonday '" was desolating some of the fairest cities of 
the South, the generous people of the North promptly brought ma- 
terial aid and ministering hands to alleviate, if not to stay, the terri- 
ble scourge. 

Between such soldiers and such people tliere could be no enduring 
enmity. The grand soldier of the South made possible the grand 
soldier of the North, and their achievements are the common heritage 



164 Li f e an( l Character of John A. Logan. 

of our common country. In this contest brother was often arrayed 
against 1 m >t her. They spoke a common language and were of a com- 
mon origin. The mistakes of the earlier part of the war as to each 
« .ther's courage had been dissipated upon many bloody fields. They 
knew that this war was not of their own seeking, and being over, 
desired to return to their father's house, there to remain in peace. It 
was natural, therefore, they should view with resentment the acts or 
declaration of any public man seeming to question their good faith 
or impugn their motives. 

The strong character and vehement nature of General Logan were 
such as made him prefer to accomplish his ends by force rather than 
thr< nigh the suggestions of clemency. This was the side of his char- 
acter which was presented to the Southern people, who, while they 
had confidence in his integrity and believed that as a public man he 
would fulfill every promise with the utmost fidelity, yet it inculcated 
feelings of resentment in the minds of those who had not been brought 
into contact with him. 

In writing and speaking he was not always considerate of the feel- 
ings of those to whom he was opposed in the war. Yet while they 
would have preferred to applaud his magnanimity toward the van- 
quished, they are not strenuous to condemn the natural impulses of 
his ardent nature. 

By his maternal side he was descended from a strong and patriotic 
family of my own State, and in appearance and manner partook of 
their hardy and impassioned nature. Whether following the for- 
tunes of his great leader, Stephen A. Douglas, before the war, or 
battling for the cause of the Union, or as a stalwart Republican in 
later days, he was always a fearless and vigorous fighter. Many 
people had emigrated from the South to Southern Illinois who dur- 
ing the early stages of the war bitterly opposed the coercive meas- 
ures of the North. In their ranks were found many who had beer 
the most active and zealous political friends of General Logan. The 
sacrifices which at the call of his country sundered these ties of 
friendship left their ineffaceable impress on his character. He 
burned his ships behind him and turned his face toward those who 
shared liis fortune upon the tented field. 

In public life he was recognized as the great advocate and friend 
of the Union soldier, and hiseffortsin their behalf apotheosized him 
as their greal political leader. My personal acquaintance with him 



Address of Mr. Symes, of Colorado. 16") 

was limited, and I speak only from impressions entertained by those 
among whom I live. From Southern Representatives with whom 
he served in Congress I have heard of his liberality, sincerity, and 
honesty in dealing with Southern men and measures, and I was grati 
tied to know of this phase of his character. " Passing away" is the 
superscription written above the heads of all those who once wore 
the blue and the gray. In a few years the long roll will be beaten 
to summons hence all the survivors of this grand martial array. 

When they are gone the flowers will bloom as sweetly, the sun 
shine as brightly, the silent watches of the night move on as se- 
renely, and the world pr< >ve as joyous as it was in their youth. Why, 
then, dwell upon the past, with its hardships and resentments, when 
our hopes and fears are now mainly with the future? 

In conclusion I place this garland upon the tomb of General LOGAN, 
and will add this — though he walked amid temptations his character 
was stainless, and that while he served his country faithfully he died 
poor. It is pleasing to reflect that in the hearts and abundance of 
his appreciative countrymen his family are not forgotten. 



Address of Mr. Symes, of Colorado. 

Mr. Speaker: I do not rise at this time to pronounce any formal 
or extended eulogy on the life, public services, and private virtues of 
John A. Logan. The time allotted for the delivery of eulogies in 
this Hall by his colleagues in Congress is so limited, and so many 
gentlemen have spoken and so many still desire to speak, that further 
elaborate discourse at this time would be inappropriate. 

But, Mr. Speaker, extended eulogies in this place are unnecessary 
to perpetuate the national name and fame of John A. Logan. Others 
may die while members of this National Legislature whose services 
to their constituents and their country may better be preserved and 
maintained in the future by the speeches of colleagues and the rec- 
ords of these bodies than otherwise. It is not so, sir, with the fame 
and renown and virtues of the great man we mourn to-day. 

Mr. Speaker, we, his colleagues, can do but little toward upholding 
or perpetuating the fame or glory of him whose reputation for ex- 
alted patriotism, untarnished honor, unswerving courage, and for 
all the public and private virtues have already become watchwords 
with the great mass of the American people. 



166 



Life and Character of John A. Logan. 



Mr. Speaker, the story of John A. Logan's life will be told and 
dwelt upon, and told again, on all fitting occasions in the future all 
over this country. They will be specially recited in orations deliv- 
ered before the associations of the Grand Army of the Eepublic, 
which he founded and loved so much. His comrades of the Grand 
Army, all of whom acknowledge him as their greatest and most 
valued friend, will memorialize his name and recite his virtues in 
fraternity and loyalty so long as a sufficient number of them remain 
on earth to pay honor to those who have gone before. The great 
body of the American people who recognized John A. Logan as 
their statesman, champion, and friend will perpetuate his name and 
virtues in bronze and marble long after his colleagues, comrades, and 
friends have followed him to the grave. 

And, Mr. Speaker, when some future Homer shall write the epic 
poem of the nineteenth century and give a narrative of the heroic 
period of the American Republic, John A. Logan will appear as one 
of the characters in that drama. 

Mr. Speaker, I .knew General Logan perhaps more intimately 
than any of the members of this House outside of his colleagues 
from the State of Illinois. I have known him well for over twenty 
years. I knew him in the Army before that, when I served in the 
Army of the Tennessee in the Atlanta campaign. He has done me 
many favors. He has several times visited me at my own home. I 
have conversed with him alone many summer evenings, in the cool 
air of Colorado, upon the topics he had most at heart in this life, 
until I not only admired and honored him. for every American did 
that, but I learned to love him. Loving him as I did, I consider it 
one of the happiest privileges of my life to have spent the last night 
of his earthly existence by the bedside of my great and dear friend 
assisting what little I could to smooth his last journey over the dark 
river from the known to the unknown. 

Mr. Speaker, if proving more than equal to the greatest emergen- 
cies that can arise in life ; if succeeding to the command of a great 
army when its commander had fallen on the field and it was in con- 
fusion and suffering reverses, and by the very force of his genius 
and personal valor turning defeat into victory; if. when the pas- 
sions of thousands of men were raging to and fro in the balance, 
throwing himself into the midst of these turbul.nt masses and by 
the power of his unconquerable spirit inaction controlling and guid- 



Address of Mr. Byrnes, of Colorado. 1G7 

ing them into the paths of right and duty are the acts that charac- 
terize greatness, John A. Logan was a great man. 

Mr. Speaker, I have seen John A. Logan under the most trying 
circumstances in which it pleases Providence to place poor mortal 
man. I have seen him upon the dreadful field of conflict, where the 
groans of the wounded and dying, the thunder of artillery, the crash 
of rifled cannon balls through the trees of the forest, the whiz of 
musket bullets, and the loud yells of the apparently, and for the 
time being, victorious enemy made it seem a pandemonium indeed, 
his piercing black eye penetrating the field of carnage, his streaming 
black hair waving in the very wind of bursting shells with a cool- 
ness and personal gallantry that made him seem more than mortal, 
that brought order out of chaos and wrested victory from defeat. 

Sir, I have seen him again and watched him grappling with Ins 
political enemies on the field of debate upon this floor in 1868, when 
the old charges were made and reiterated that he had sympathized 
with armed movements against his country in her time of need, 
and he threw these charges back into the teeth of those who made 
them with such patriotic indignation and eloquent invective that he 
silenced his opponents and came out of the debate triumphant. 

Mr. Speaker, I have seen him again in the social intimacy of his 
own and my own home, where neither war nor debate excited his 
manly serenity, telling anecdotes for the amusement of all around 
the domestic circle; and a nobler, kinder hearted, more patriotic, 
courageous, or honorable man than JOHN A. Logan never lived. 
He was one of the greatest statesmen and the greatest citizen soldier 

of America. 

Mr. Speaker, many have denied that John A. Logan was a greal 
man. Some because in the heat of debate he sometimes articulated 
language which was not perfect, when tested by the strict rules of 

verbal criticism. Others said he was not great 1 a us, he was not 

learned and accomplished in belles-lettres, and others because In- was 
unlearned in the arts and sciences. 

Mr. Speaker, great acquirements, learning, and accomplishments 
in such things never made a great man. If. while General Logan 
was battling to overcome the hardships of pioneer life his tin,, had 
been spent poring over books in Eastern colleges ; if. when the war 
with Mexico broke out and he was twenty years of age Ins own taste 
or ambition or that of his parents had sent him to seats of learning 
in Germany, to 1,, filled with all the knowledge that books and pro- 



Ig8 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

fessors could impart, instead of going to the battlefields of his 
country ; if, during the years intervening between the Mexican war 
and 1858, when he was elected a member of this House from South- 
ern Illinois, his time had been divided between reading polite litera- 
ture, traveling in Europe, visiting art galleries, and mixing in the 
highest society, and the remainder of it only devoted to the profes- 
sion of the law in some large city, it is certain he never would have 
rendered the great services to his country in her time of need which 
his countrymen now universally acknowledge ; and he never would 
have died universally mourned as the champion and friend of the 
American people. He never would have passed down to history as 
one of the great statesmen and the greatest American citizen-soldier 
of his time. As that brilliant orator and statesman from Virginia, 
John Randolph, of Roanoke, once said in this House : 

The talent for government lies in two things, sagacity to perceive and the decis- 
ion to act. Genuine statesmen were never made by such training. * Let 
a house be on fire and you will soon see in that confusion who has the talent to 

,., mnd. * * * Who believes that Washington could write as good a bonk or 

report as Jefferson, or make as able a speech as Hamilton? Who is there that be- 
lieves that Cromwell would have made as good a judge as Lord Hale ? No, Mr. 
Speaker, these learned and accomplished men find their proper place under those 
who are fitted to command and to command them among : the rest. * * ! Great 
Logicians and great scholars are for that very reason unfit to be rulers. Would Han- 
nibal have crossed the Alps where there were no roads, with elephants, in the face 
of the warlike hardy mountaineers, and have carried terror to the very gates of 
Rome if his youth had been spent in poring overbooks? "Are you not ashamed," 
said a philosopher to one who was born to rule. "Are you not ashamed to play so 
well upon the flute?" There is much which becomes a secondary man to know, 
much that it is necessary for him to know, that a first-rate man ought to be 
ashamed to know. No head was ever clear and sound that was stuffed with book- 
learning. * * * After all, the chief must draw upon his subalterns for much 
that he does not know and cannot perform himself. 

Mr. Speaker, the eloquent statesman and orator of Virginia has 
here shown in a strong light the reasons why John A. Logan was a 
greal man. notwithstanding he was not a learned and accomplished 
man in the common acceptation of the term. 

In his domestic relations General Logan was one of the happiest 

and most fortunate of men. In the early < lays of his manhood, I 

may truly say in the beautiful language of another : 

He found in the wilderness of this world one without whose participation Ids bliss 
would have been joyless, but in whose sympathy even his sorrows could find a 
charm : whose smile has cheered his toil : whose love has pillowed up all his mis- 
fortunes : and whose angel spirit has guided hiui through darkness and danger and 
despair amid the w. aid's frowns and the friend's perfidy and been more than 
friend and world and all to him. 



Address of Mr. Symes, of Colorado. 1G9 

The influence of this beautiful domestic relation over him was 
great. That influence modified his stern and ardent nature in many 
of the other relations of life. I attribute to this influence somewhat 
the reason that during his bitterest, and what may have been said 
his most ambitious, contests in life, he never lust sight of the do- 
mestic, social, and other interests of the American people at the mo- 
ment of his greatest triumphs. For home, after all, is where those 
delicate feelings are to be cherished which gives to society its most 
attractive charms; and here must those affections take root which 
spread their tendrils abroad and embrace the whole family of man. 

We are told of Agamemnon, who sacrificed his daughter to war- 
like ambition; of Virginius, who with his own hands could slay a 
daughter to produce a political revolution ; of Cato, who divorced 
or took back his wife as public affairs seemed to require; but the age 
in which these men were considered great was not characterized by 
the purity of conjugal relations and those domestic ties of social in- 
tercourse which lie at the very foundation of our government by 
the people. In these ancient heroes there may be much to admire, 
but little that we can love. For, as has been said: 

What more dreary than the prospects of a man who knows not the endearments 
of domestic life. He may have all the sterner virtues. He may have power. He 
may be tricked out with all the magnificence of wealth, elevated by the dignity of 
office, or respected for genius and learning ; but what is all this worth ? What is 
his greatness ? It is like the chilling grandeur of his own marble monument. 
Travelers look with awe ami pass it by in silence, for it contains no records of those 
acts of private kindness and domestic virtues upon which men love to dwell. 

Mr. Speaker, if John A. Logan's life had been without the influ- 
ence of these domestic charms he would not be so universally re- 
gretted by all the American people ; and American history will jxhnt 
to this portion of his life as one of the bright examples to be followed 
by those Americans who wish to be universally admired and 
mourned by the people of their country. 

Mr. Speaker, John A. Logan was a great orator. His speech was 
very elocpient. This distinction has often been denied to him. It 
has been said that his rhythm was not finished and harmonious; that 
his rhetoric would not stand the test of literary criticism; that some 
of his strong and rugged apostrophes and illustrations did not suit 
the taste of the accomplished schools of oratory or eloquence. In a 
certain sense this may be true. But, Mr. Speaker, the true object of 
eloquence is to persuade, and of oratory to produce conviction. 
When we test the speeches of John A. Logan, delivered on public 



170 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

and important occasions, by their results, we can not deny to him the 
distinction of being a great orator and an eloquent man. 
Mr. Speaker, as has been said by Webster : 

True eloquence indeed does not consist in speech. It can not be brought from 
far. Labor and learning may toil for it. but they will toil for it in vain. It must 
exist in the man, in the subject, and in the occasion. * * * The graces taught 
in the schools, the costly ornaments and studied contrivances of speech shock 
and disgust men when their own lives and the fate of their wives, their children, 
and their country hang on the decision of the hour. Then words have lost 
their power, rhetoric is vain, and all elaborate oratory contemptible. * * * 
Then patriotism is eloquent; then self-devotion is eloquent. The clear conception 
outrunning the deductions of logic, the high purpose, the firm resolve, the daunt- 
less spirit speaking on the tongue, beaming from the eye, informing every feature 
and urging the whole man onward, right onward, to his object. This is eloquence ; 
or rather, it is something greater and higher than all eloquence ; it is action, noble, 
sublime, God-like action. 

Mr. Speaker, are not these words of one of the great masters, whose 
eloquence and oratory adorned and influenced both Houses of Con- 
gress for so many years, specially applicable to the oratory of John 
A. Logan? Have we a man in this generation who, at critical periods 
in our country's history, at times, sir, when the fate of our country 
was at stake and " the die seemed to spin somewhat doubtful," threw 
himself into the breach with a more dauntless spirit, with a more 
firm resolve speaking on his tongue or beaming from his eye and 
urging him on with a more sublime and Clod-like action than John* 
A. Logan? It is matter of history that at such times he changed 
the opinions and convictions of thousands of men by the power of 
his oratory. 

Mr. Speaker, ask that greatest chieftain and man of his time, U. S. 
Grant, whether Logan was an orator, and lie would tell you that in 
1861, when he, Grant, was organizing the new recruits of Illinois 
into regiments at the State rendezvous, and on account of a misun- 
derstanding with them about the term of enlistment a large number 
of them were threatening to go back home when asked to swear in 
for three years, and were in a state of mutiny, he applied to Logan 
for advice as to how to control them. Logan said, speak to them, 
reason with them, and appeal to them. The great silent commander 
replied: "I can not speak to them, 1 never made a speech in my 
life; won't you speak to them?" "Certainly," said Logan. The 
recruits were collected together on the parade ground, and Logan 
appealed to their patriotism, their courage, their pride, and man- 
hood and duty to their country in such an eloquent and impetuous 



Address of Mr. Symes, of Colorado. 171 

maimer that the cheer soon rang out, and the cry of "Union and 
freedom" floated upon the evening air, and those, a short time before, 
mutinous recruits all enlisted for three years or during the war. and 
this was the result of the oratory of John A. Logan. 

Mr. Speaker, many said Logan was ambitious ; that he sought the 
highest prize in the gift of the American people. And why should 
he not ? Had not he who had done so much to preserve the Union 
of this Republic and its free institutions, who had spilled his blood 
upon her battlefields and spent over two-thirds of his manhood days 
in her service, a right to aspire to the Chief Magistracy!'' Yes, Mr. 
Speaker. Logan was ambitious. But who will say that his ambition 
ever caused him to swerve one iota from his convictions of duty and 
his principles under any circumstances whatever. 

The contemporaries of the great triumvirate of eloquence and states- 
manship, Webster, Clay, and Calhoun, often charged each of them 
with deviating from some of their former convictions to avoid oppo- 
sition from the people in their ambition for the coveted prize. 

Mr. Speaker, here is where John A. Logan's character and con- 
victions stand forth in bold relief in the political hist< iry i >f this coun- 
try. For, whatever may have been charged against other aspirants 
for the Presidency, whether occupying seats in the Congress, or if 
out of Congress writing speeches and letters on every promising 
occasion, no one would presume to intimate that Logan ever evaded 
any public question, ever avoided even expressing his convictions 
boldly in debate upon any pending measure, or that he ever tried to 
ride upon the crest of the popular wave or trimmed his sails to a 
temporary or other breeze to aid in sailing into the Chief Magistrate's 
harbor. 

Mr. Speaker, he has passed away, and we poor mortals can do 
nothing more than mourn his loss and revere and keep the memory 
of his many virtues for our own bright example. No American has 
died in this generation who will be so universally missed by all classes 
and conditions of men as John A. Logan. The Grand Army of the 
Republic soldiers will miss him when endeavoring to obtain their 

rights. The statesmen will miss his >1 and unfaltering intrepidity 

in the support of measures for the good of our country. The great 
mass of the people will miss and mourn him when their rights require 
courageous defense. 



172 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 



Address of Mr. Lawler, of Illinois. 

Mr. Speaker : The eloquent tributes to the memory of General 
Logan recently pronounced in the other branch of Congress, as well 
as similar eulogies delivered to-day by my respected colleagues of the 
House of Rej>resentatives, admonish me that no words of mine can 
add to the measure of profound grief expressed for the loss of so true, 
tried, and honored citizen of the American Republic. But, sir. I 
would be derelict to the constituency which I have the honor to rep- 
resent, recusant to the impulses of my own heart, and unmindful of 
the many acts of disinterested kindness received from the late distin- 
guished Senator from Illinois did I fail to testify my brief but hum- 
ble appreciation of his worth, not only as a statesman and wise con- 
selor, but as a man among men. 

I have not awaited the hour of death to praise John A. Logan, for 
it was my fortune to know him, perhaps not intimately in the social 
sense, but measurably as we were brought into contact and collision 
in the various political conflicts in Illinois. He was a foeman worthy 
of the foeman's steel, but withal generous and considerate in the hour 
of victory, submitting to defeat without murmur or complaint. My 
respect for John A. Logan augmented into admiration when the 
grand spectacle was jjresented of his graceful acquiescence in the will 
of the majority expressed adversely to his election to the Vice-Presi- 
dency in November, 1HK4. 

What most commanded my respect for General Logan, and doubt- 
less the respect of others, was his entire freedom from pride of place, 
and the uniform kindness with which the humblest and plainest citi- 
zen was received by him, and not only by him but by his good wile, 
his helpmeet and staff, and by every member of the Logan house- 
hold. 

His methods were the very essence of plainness and unostentation, 
and tl lough we all know from personal experience that public men are 
importuned frequently beyond the pale of endiirance, yet rarely, if 
ever, did General Logan, impetuous as was his nature, permit him- 
self to manifest impatience or annoyance when thus besieged. 'I' here 
were none so poor, so lowly, or so obscure but who could rind their 
way freely to his presence. 



Address of Mr. Lawler, of Illinois. 173 

Ingratitude, that superabundant vice of political life, from the 
stings of which but few, if any. public men are free gave General 
Logan the greatest pain. Himself a grateful man. never f< irgel ting 
a kindness and holding himself always on the alert to repay a hun- 
dred fold, he was keenly sensitive to ingratitude from persons he had 
befriended, and he befriended many. Those who are familiar with 
political events in the State of Illinois and elsewhere will doubtless 
recall many pronounced instances wherein General Logan was made 
to suffer grievously at the hands of pretended friends, who should 
have been the very last on earth to turn against him. Even when 
this wri »ng was laid upon his very threshold, he magnanimously held 
his peace. 

In General Logan's composition, as it seemed to me, the qualities 
of physical and moral courage were happily blended. His integrity 
of purpose could not be successfully questioned, and I have noticed 
that lie vastly preferred to perform acts of kindness even to enemies 
than to punish them. His sense of justice was acute to a degree, and 
the realization that he had been unwittingly unjust wounded him 
greatly. It frequently requires great courage to remedy an injustice. 
but General Logan never shrank from nor avoided what he con- 
ceived to be his duty in this regard. 

I have often instituted a comparison in my own mind of similar 
traits of character possessed by General Logan to some of those of 
Samuel Adams, of Revolutionary fame. I can well imagine that had 
I ,i m .an been a member of the Continental Congress, when that 1 m >dy 
declared the colonies free and independent of England's domination, 
he would have boldly proclaimed with Samuel Adams: 

I should advise persisting in our struggle for liberty, though it were revealed 
from Heaven that nine hundred and ninety-nine were to perish and only one of a 
thousand were tosurviveand retain his liberty! One such freeman must possess 
more virtue and enjoy more happiness than a thousand slaves ; and let him propa- 
gate his like, and transmit to them what he hath SO nobly preserved. 

Like Samuel Adams, John A. Logan combined in a remarkable 
degree those qualities of firmness and aggressiveness that qualify a 
man to be the asserter of the rights of the people. Like Samuel 
Adams, he was superior to pecuniary considerations, and proved his 
cause by the virtue of his conduct, Like Samuel Adams, the service 
he rendered his country in the national councils was not by brilliancy 
of talent nor profoundnesss of learning, but thn >ugh rest 'lute decision, 
unceasing watchfulness, and heroic perseverance. 



174 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

General Logan's military achievements are written in living light 
upon the pages of history. I was not a soldier, for it must be remem- 
bered the various pursuits and necessities of life do not permit all to 
follow to the tented field; but when a mere youth, serving appren- 
ticeship at the trade of ship-carpenter and working at repairs upon 
the Federal gunboats at Cairo and Mound City, my eyes were eagerly 
strained toward the Federal lines where Grant, Logan, Mulligan, 
Morrison, Henderson, Rowell, Black, Thomas, Plunib, Carr. and 
other loyal sons of Illinois, heading their columns of brave men, were 
upholding the cause of the Union at the peril of their lives. 

From my own personal knowledge I am enabled to state that 
General Logan deeply sympathized with the efforts made, not only 
at the present period, but in days gone by, to free Ireland from the 
yoke of oppression, to secure equal application of British laws and 
afford that land a benign and friendly government, rather than afflict 
her with the curse of landlordism and visit endless outrages upon the 
Irish people without even the pretense of remedy or the confession 
of injustice. It was but natural that the Irish blood coursing in his 
veins should find outlet in sympathy for his kindred ; but apart from 
this, had he derived the source of life from any other nationality, his 
generous heart would have gone out to the weak and oppressed, vainly 
appealing to tyrants for home rule, and surcease from persecution 
from absentees who, owning the fruitful lands of the Irish isle, lived 
riot elsewhere upon the sweat and toil of its wretched and dependent 
farm-peasantry. 

John A. Logan was not the man to learn without emotion and 
indignation of women and children starving at the wayside of Irish 
roads, evicted from their humble homes, their cow and pig, their beds 
and bedding, seized by the constabulary on warrants of distress for 
rent they could not pay because of failure of the crops. He drew 
broadly the line of demarkation between free America, where the 
honest settler is provided, through humane laws, with a homestead on 
the public domain, and the endless horrors of tenant life in Ireland, 
to which the English Government persistently closes its eyes and 
denies every reasonable proposition of amelioration. 

General Logan entertained the profouudest admiration for the 
patriot Robert Emmett, and I have heard him say that it was a mar- 
vel how a youth of but eighteen years could have so stirred Ireland 
to the very core by the enthusiasm of his eloquence; Emmett, who at 



Address of Mr. La trier, of Illinois. 175 

the early age of twenty-three, a martyr to the cause of Irish inde- 
pendence, met no mercy at the hands of the English Government 
and perished on the scaffold, convicted of high treason, notwith- 
standing the nobility of his demeanor at the mockery-trial, and 
which evoked the pitying admiration of even those who clamored for 
his execution for the alleged benefit of example. 

Does anyone in this age suppose that the blood of Robert Emmett 
or the suicide of Theobald Wolf Tone to escape the scaffold have 
yielded no harvest? England may have ignored the eloquence of 
Richard Lalor Shiel, of Waterford, vindicating in the House of 
Commons the Irish people from the aspersions of Lord Lyndhurst, and 
turned a deaf ear to his impassioned plea for simple justice to his 
countrymen, whose sacrifices, unmeasured and untold, had contrib- 
uted the major portion of England's supremacy among the nations of 
the earth, only to find themselves thereafter the objects of persistent 
ostracism and deliberate persecution. The closing words of Shiel's 
peroration — 

The blood of England, Scotland, and of Ireland flowed in the same stream and 
drenched the same field. When the chill morning dawned their dead lay cold and 
stark together : in the same deep pit their bodies were deposited : the green corn of 
spring is now breaking from their commingled dust: the dew falls from Heaven 
upon then' union in the grave. Partaking in every peril, in the glory shall we not 
be permitted to participate! And shall we be told, as a requital, that we are 
estranged from the country for whose salvation our life-blood was poured out ! — 

have found echo in many an American breast, and none more 
responsive than in the big heart of John Alexander Logan. 

During the period of Ireland's later trials and tribulations, when 
it was deemed fitting for Americans, Irish-Americans, and all others 
who sympathized with the efforts of Irish patriots to .secure home 
rule and the enactment of humane laws for that land of long-suffer- 
ing, to meet in various localities of our happy Republic and send 
words of encouragement and cheer across the sea to those engaged 
in this good work, and to advise them that, as the hearts of all true 
Irishmen warmed to the people of the American colonies in response 
to their memorials of grievance addressed to the Lord Mayor and 
Burgesses of the city of Dublin, so the heart of free and independent 
America went out in return to them, struggling to obtain like con- 
stitutional rights from the hands of (lie same unnatural mother, it 
was no less a duty than a pleasure to John Alexander Logan, a 
Senator in the Congress of the United States, and the son of an Irish 



176 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

patriot of the Revolution of 1798, to preside over the deliberations 
of several such assemblies held in the city of Chicago — his home. 
And there were none present more fervid in eloquence nor wiser in 
council than John Alexander Logan ! 

When Logan died Ireland lost a firm friend and warm sympa- 
thizer. A great American has fallen in the very plenitude of his 
usefulness, and the Republic mourns the loss as deeply as it has 
mourned the loss of other patriots gone before. The earth that enter- 
tained him at his birth, fed and all along his life sustained him in 
the performance of his duty, now that he has been abdicated by the 
rest of nature, like a gentle mother embraces John Alexander 
Logan within her lap, and protects his mortal remains until the 
hope of resurrection shall be realized and the divine promise of a life 
beyond the grave fully redeemed. "The body returns," saith the 
Scripture, "to the earth from whence it came, and the soul to the 
God that gave it." 

His death was tranquil, surrounded by family and friends, and lov- 
ing hands bore his body to the tomb. For this great boon we should 
be thankful. His widow and children know that the nation shares 
their deep grief, and to that extent only we can give them earthly 
c< msi ilation. Our friend died as he had lived, honored and respected, 
not alone by the people within the broad boundaries of the American 
Republic, but by man and woman in all lands where liberty is prized 
or tin- hope of liberty cherished ! 



Address of Mr. Perkins, of Kansas. 

Mr. Speaker: "Dust to dust and ashes to ashes" is decreed to 
all. Yet notwithstanding tins common mortality, it lias, since the 
morning stars first sang together, been the habit of our race to pay 
tribute to the 1 rable and chivalric dead, and with profound re- 
spect and sincere sorrow do we pause in the busy activities of life, 
suspend the business of this Chamber, and in saddened cadences 
laurel with rhetorical offerings the grave of one the world respected, 
the nation honored, the people loved, and patriots mourn— General 
John A. Logan. 

It was in this Chamber that John Alexander Logan first be- 
came known to the people of this country, and it was from this 
Chamber that ae went as a volunteer to fight in the first battle of 



Address of Mr. Perkins, of Kansas. 177 

Bull Run, as it was from this Chamber that he went to the capital 
of his native State and tendered his services to its governor that he 
might be enrolled as a defender of his country against the war of 
treason and rebellion just precipitated upon it by his late political 
associates. It required indomitable courage, sincere patriotism, and 
intense unselfish love of country to prompt to all this. But these 
were the distinguishing characteristics of this son of Illinois, and 
how we from the prairies of the Great West recall the sensations of 
that day. 

How our hope was enkindled, our patriotism encouraged, our 
enthusiasm strengthened, our spirits revived, and our cheeks made 
to glow with new faith and animation as we learned that John A. 
L< >gan was strong enough to strike down the prejudices that sur- 
rounded him, the traditions that hampered him, the political affilia- 
tions that had dominated him, and with a mailed hand and matchless 
eloquence declare for his country, her institutions, and her people. 

That period of strife is only recalled that we may speak of the 
grand achievements of this illustrious man. 

From his first enlistment until the last gun was fired he was the 
incarnation of war. War to him was a terrible, a cruel reality, but 
that lives might be spared, peace secured, and tranquillity restored, 
he would make war with the heaviest guns, the strongest battalions, 
the best equipped divisions, and prosecute it with all the energy and 
earnestness that could be given to human organizations. Time will 
not permit me to speak of his military record and achievements as I 
would like, and yet it is a story known to all. 

But when the belching of cannon ceased, when victory crowned 
our arms, and peace was restored to our bleeding country, it saw 
General John A. Logan crowned by the plaudits of the people the 
greatest volunteer soldier of the Republic. He did not get at all 
times that recognition from his superiors in authority that he thought 
his distinguished services deserved ; but he never sheathed his sword 
in discontent, he never refused in a spirit of insubordination to exe- 
cute the orders of his superiors, and he never in the face of the enemy 
refused to give battle, or to contribute by his heroic presence and 
splendid bearing to the cause of his imperiled country and the suc- 
cess of the Union arms. 

In every council his voice was for battle, and in every battle his 
strong arm. brave deeds, and impetuous words were for victory. 
1 2 L 



178 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

Many there are in this House who will recall that day in front of 
Atlanta when the impetuous Hood hurled his gallant forces against 
the Union lines. No more memorable contest occurred during the 
war. McPherson had fallen and Logan was in command of the 
Army of the Tennessee, and against his command came the almost 
irresistible legions of Hood, determined to break the Union lines and 
to crown their efforts with a victory that would carry consternation 
to the Union forces and give hope and relief to the beleaguered city 
of Atlanta. 

Never did men fight with more gallantry, and never were men re- 
pulsed with more daring and heroism than was witnessed that day 
on that now historic field in the State of Georgia. 

On both sides of their rifle-pits our boys struggled for the victory, 
and hatless, fearless, impetuous, and invincible, their beloved com- 
mander shared with them the danger, and by his magnetic presence 
and intrepid daring was to them " an inspiration, a prophecy, and a 
success.'' 

But it has been said that Logan was a political soldier. Is that to 
his detriment ? Is it not rather to his credit ? Shall it ever be the 
settled policy of this Republic that no man shall be honored with 
military rank at a time of war and of great national peril, except 
those who have been trained to the profession of arms and educated 
at the military schools of the country ? 

As was so well said in the Senate Chamber last week by the dis- 
tinguished Senator from Connecticut : 

He was classed as a political general. I do not know that it was altogether an 
unfriendly remark. He was, sir ; he had the honor to be a political general. It 
was a political war, and he was as strong in one field of battle as the other. The 
political generals did double duty. The anxiety during some of the great days of 
those four years was not that the soldiers of the Union would be unal >leto put 1 1< iwn 
the rebellion in due time, but that the voters at the ballot-box might put down the 
war too early : and some of the political combats won by LOGAN and others at home 
were as useful to the cause of the Union as the triumphs of Vicksburg and Gettys- 
burg. Baker, matchless as an orator, chivalrous and Lovely inbattle, wasa politi- 
cal general. Garfield, giving promise of greal genera'ship by an unconquerable 
industry and energy, and a brilliant courage in the face of the enemy's guns— Gar- 
field, obeying what was almost a command, went from the Army to Congress. 
Frank Blair, with the trumpet tones of his voice and the quiver of his uplifted 
finger, was worth a corps of soldiers in his influence over Missouri, and be was a 
political general. 

At the close of the war when the armies of the Republic were dis- 
banded and martial strife had .cased. ( reneral Logan returned to his 
home. Bui there was no repose for him. By divine right he was a 



Address of Mr. Perkins, of Kansas. 179 

leader of men. At the forum, in the council chamber, and upon the 
hustings it was his imperial right to lead as well as upon the field of 
conflict and carnage, and after a short respite from public duties he 
was returned to this Chamber us the representative at large from the 
State of Illinois, and from that time on until the day of his death he 
was one of the most distinguished figures in our political history. 

At all times aggressive and impulsive, he had the courage of his 
convictions. It cannot be said that his character was without fault 
or criticism, but let it be recorded to his eternal honor that under all 
circumstances and to all classes he was an honest man. Sincere in 
his convictions, he despised shams and false pretense, and the glamour 
of hypocritical professions never deceived or captivated him. 

Persistent in purpose and tireless in endeavor, by his indomitable 
will he overcame obstacles, converted embarrassments into oppor- 
tunities, and made barriers but stepping-stones to greater things. 

He was the first commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, 
and was the first to suggest the beautiful custom of strewing with 
the fragrant flowers of spring the graves of our heroic dead. Every 
man who wore the blue was his comrade. For them his labors were 
incessant, and the statute-books of this nation attest his constant 
devotion to their best interests, and to the best interests of those that 
were widowed or made fatherless by that merciless contest. He could 
never forget those who shared with him the weary march, the bivouac 
fires, the evening meal, the sanguinary engagements, and the glori- 
ous accomplishments that finally brought victory to our banners and 
peace and prosperity to our borders. For them in their misfortunes 
in his judgment the coffers of the nation should be opened, and for 
them his heart ever warmed in fraternity, charity, and loyalty. 

Mr. Speaker, few men in American history have left such an im- 
press of their individuality upon the public mind and such a brill- 
iant record of grand and glorious achievements as General John A. 

Logan. 

Coming from the ranks of the people, he believed in the good 
sense and honesty of the masses, and his heart and hand were ever 
for their good. He was a firm Republican and believed in the genius 
and institutions of our republican Government, and tyranny in all 
forms and in all countries found an inveterate hater in him. 

As citizen, as lawyer, as soldier, as legislator, as statesman ami 
orator, as husband, father, and friend, we honor him, awl bis glory 
is a part of the resplendent and imperishable history of onr country. 



180 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

On the last day of the old year, with muffled drums and drooping 
flags. General John A. Logan was laid to rest. It was a raw, 
cloudy, December day, and the snow lay white on the country hills 
and mantled with the symbol of purity the silent resting place of 
the lamented dead. A dull, gray sky hung overhead, and at times 
the winter rain poured in freezing torrents upon the ground. All 
nature seemed touched with sympathy at the nation's loss, and joined 
in the tears and sobs of the mourning multitude. He had died the 
Sunday before, and how fitting that this closing scene in the sol- 
dier's life should come with the close of the year. John A. Logan 
and the old year went out together. That dark but handsome face, 
that manly bearing, will be seen no more on this side the "dark 
river," to whose cold tide we are all hastening. 

But his memory will endure as long as the English language, and 
the remembrance of his great deeds will be as imperishable. Hon- 
est, incorruptible, and true, tender as a woman, brave as a lion, 
trusting as a child, his life passed to its ending without stain and 
without reproach. 

In that beautiful home overlooking our capital city, where he 
hoped to spend so many happy hours, sits the widow in weeds and 
mourning. 

A vacant chair, an empty uniform, medals of honor, and souvenirs 
of affection tell of the loved one who was, but comes no more. 

In her desolation how vividly is recalled her constant devotion to 
the dead we honor. At home, abroad, in the field, in the forum, 
here, everywhere, she was his encouragement and almost constant 
companion, and the story of her services in the rude hospital on the 
banks of the Cumberland, in nursing back to life him who lay bleed- 
ing and exhausted from wounds and exposure received and endured 
on the field of Donelson, is a grand tribute to this truly American 
woman. 

And with her tears and sobs are mingling to-day the tears and 
lamentations of hundreds and thousands of the comrades of the late 
war, who, appreciating the services of General Logan in their be- 
half, mourn his death as a personal bereavement, and a loss to the 
country that is irreparable. And when the voice thai called him 
hence shall summon those from whom it gave him grief to part, 
may they join him in the world of rest and peace — 

Where no Menus ever beal en the glittering strands, 
Ami the years of eternity roll. 



Address of Mr. Pettibone, of Tennessee. \§\ 



Address of Mr. Pettibone, of Tennessee. 

Mr. Speaker: Goldwin Smith, in one of his most brilliant lectures 

delivered during the time of our civil war at the University of Cam- 
bridge, speaking of that splendid Puritan turps known as the Iron- 
sides, which Oliver Cromwell organized and disciplined, uses in sub- 
stance this language: "That splendid yeomanry, with high hopes 
and convictions of their own, who conquered for English liberty at 
Naseby, at Worcester, and at Marston Moor, in their native England, 
are now seen no more. Here they have left a great, perhaps a fatal, 
gap in the ranks of freedom." "But," he adds with something of 
pride and enthusiasm, "under Grant and Sherman they still con- 
quer for the good old cause." 

And what, sir, is that good old cause ? Do we not know that it is 
the cause of Liberty against Slavery ? That it is the cause of freedom 
against privileged usurpation ? 

"That splendid yeomanry" which the historian thus eulogizes, 
transferred over sea, became the fathers and founders of this great 
Republic of the West. The heart and core, as we know, came from 
England. It was reinforced from Scotland and from Ireland. In 
later years it has welcomed German and Scandinavian auxiliaries. 
When the time came to sever the political connection between the 
colonies and Great Britain, a hundred years ago, it was the yeomanry, 
informed and instructed by Franklin, and Samuel Adams, and Thomas 
Jefferson, and led and disciplined by Greene, and Wayne, and Wash- 
ington, who won the independence of these States and established 
this Union. 

And when, in 1861, the storm of civil war "blackened all our hori- 
zon," it was the yeomanry, we know, who furnished the volunteer 
soldiers who filled the ranks of the Union Army, and in the most 
desperate of campaigns, in the direst civil war of all time, by their 
persistence, and steadiness, and valor, carried the starry flag to 
victory and saved to the cause of civil liberty and forthcoming gen- 
erations this land of our love and devotion, and by universal con- 
sent first of these volunteers was John Alexander Logan! To-day 
we pause in this forum from our accustomed work, where he was 
once a living force and where his resonant voice was, in former years. 



182 



Life and Character of John A. Logan. 



wont to be heard, to do honor to his memory and to mark our esti- 
mate of the powers and merits of this man. 

It is difficult for me, as I doubt not it is to all his old comrades, to 
think of Logan dead. He had so much virility, so much of real 
manliness, such pluck and brave persistence, that he seemed to be 
endowed with a kind of perennial youth. And so I doubt not he 
will always seem — for his fame will not'die — to those multitudes 
who in the long years to come shall read the deeds of this splendid 
gentleman and stout soldier of the Union. 

By the common consent of all his old comrades, and by the acquies- 
cence of all who were not his comrades, and never saw him with the 
blaze of battle in his eyes, he was the tyjrical and ideal volunteer sol- 
dier of the Union army during those four tremendous years when 
the stern question was, should the Republic live or die. 

Mr. Speaker, John A. Logan believed with the faith which makes 
heroes and martyrs that in the maintenance of the Union, in the in- 
tegrity of its territory, and in the complete ascendency of its Consti- 
tution and laws were bound up, not alone the interests and welfare 
of one part of the nation, but the rights of all American citizens, the 
birthright of untold millions yet unborn, the triumph of republican 
liberty throughout the world, and, as a necessary sequence, the best 
results and fairest fruits of Christian civilization. 

He believed, as did the Union volunteers, in the rights of all men, 
because they are men, and not " dumb, driven cattle," and he knew, 
and his comrades knew, that the victory ought to be, and, in the 
providence of Him who raises up and pulls down nations at His will, 
would be, the victory of North and of South alike; that it would, in 
its final beneficent results, be the common heritage and common 
glory of their own, and of the children and children's children of 
those then " wearing the gray," who were arrayed in civil strife 
against them, but for whose manly courage and stalwart energy in 
a most mistaken cause they felt a stern respect and admiration like 
that which, in the great Russian campaign, the Cossacks of the Don 
felt tiii- Murat, the great cavalry leader of France! 

In this faith, when the day of wordy debate was past, when patch- 
work compromises would no longer do. when the dread question was 
put, Shall slavery or freedom be master on this continent? LOGAN 
made his decision. We all know his antecedents. We all know how 
loth he was to take up arms against his brethren. His mother was 



Address of Mr. Pettibone, of Tennessee. 183 

In nil at Nashville, almost in sight of the Hermitage. But the decis- 
ion had to be made. He resigned his seat on this floor. He spoke 
with a tongue of fire to the yeomanry of his district and his State, 
and his voice echoed throughout all the land. He rallied around him 
a regiment. With his thotisand comrades in arms he swore to main- 
tain, to preserve, and to protect the Constitution of the United States, 
and he went forth to the dangers of uncertain war animated by the 
very spirit in which the angel of freedom speaks in the spirited verses 

of Whittier: 

Then Freedom sternly said, " I shun 
No strife nor pang beneath the sun 
When human rights are staked and won. 

I knelt with Ziseo's hunted flock, 
I watched in Toussaint's cell of rock, 
I walked with Sidney to the block. 

The Moor of Marston felt my tread. 
Through Jersey snows the march I led, 
My voice Magenta's charges sped." 

It was to maintain, not to disintegrate ; to preserve, not to destroy, 
that Logan donned his country's uniform of blue. With reluctance, 
and almost with heart-break, he took up the gage of battle. He 
knew what war is. He knew its horrors, and all its blighting curses. 
But he was a man of the people. He was simply and always one 
of the plain people on whom Abraham Lincoln always relied. 

Always affable, always approachable, careless of mere form for 
form's sake, he would brook no disobedience of orders or dereliction 
of duty. His courage, which always rose highest when dangers 
multiplied, was known to the humblest soldier in his command, and 
in the old Army of the Tennessee he was more to us than a Cheva- 
lier Bayard, for we always felt that in Logan we had not only a 
gallant and splendid general, but we had a comrade and a friend, 
tender, and helpful, and true, as well as brave and daring. Around 
the camp fire we called him ■•Johnny." or "Black Jack." But it 
was by way of endearment— as an expression of attachment and con- 
fidence. 

He was ever king of hearts. His comrades loved him because they 
could not help it, And, sir, ever since the war-drum has ceased to beat 
he has been enshrined in the very hearts of the old soldiers of the 
Union. We loved him as we really loved no other great soldier of 
the war, and we know how he loved the boys in blue in return. 



184 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

On the 3d of July, 1863. at Vicksburg, between the lines, it was 
my fortune, as it was of thousands of others, to see the meeting of 
Grant and Peniberton when the terms of the famous surrender were 
agreed to. Accompanying his great commander was Logan, then 
in the prime and very flower of his magnificent manhood. His 
long, black hair, how it shone in that sunlight ! 

I seem to see him to-day as he then stood on that open ground in 
the clear light of that hot July sun. His every unconscious pose and 
movement seemed instinct with his character and heroic purpose. 
And so, sir, he will ever stand out in the clear perspective of his- 
tory. As he stood that day, out against a background of clear blue 
sky, the observed of all who saw that scene, so forever — fit comrade 
of his chieftain Grant — 

Let his great example stand 

Colossal, seen of every land. 

To keep the soldier firm, the statesman pure, 

Till through all lands and through all human story, 

The path of duty be the way to glory. 



Address of Mr. Haynes, of New Hampshire. 

Mr. Speaker : If I were asked what element in General Logan's 
character I most admired, I should answer his constancy and his con- 
sistency. It was his high distinction to be generally recognized as 
the most illustrious example the war produced of the citizen soldier 
as distinguished from the professional; and when the great citizen 
armies disbanded and turned their faces so joyfully to their homes 
and the pursuits of peace, he maintained an equal distinction as the 
soldier's friend in the legislative councils of the nation. To the day 
of 1 1 is death his course was such as commended him to his old com- 
rades as a champion who never swerved and never weakened in 
defense of their rights and their interests. As a soldier he won by 
bravery and skill tin' plaudits not alone of those whose cause was his 
cause, but of those against whom his efforts were directed. 

There is in the hearts of brave men who with their lives in their 
ha nds battle for their convictions a chord which vibrates with admira- 
tion and respect, and even with a sort of affection, for those among 
their opponents who deal the hardest Mows in honorable warfare. 
Such a man was Logan the soldier, and it is a matter of common 



Address of Mr. Haynes, of New Hampshire. 185 

knowledge and observation with those of us who wore the Union 1 due 
that our regard for the manly, soldierly qualities of our fallen chief 
was shared in an almost equal degree by those who wore the confed- 
erate gray. 

As he commanded the admiration of his comrades in war, in peace 
lie won their love and their affection. On the battlefield he was their 
trusted leader. In the council halls he was their steadfast champion 
and friend. As a Senator he came to be recognized as the great pillar 
of strength upon which they confidently leaned, and it was a confi- 
dence which never was misplaced. Probably no one man had so 
great a part — certainly not a greater — in shaping, directing, and urg- 
ing the legislation of the past twenty years in the special interest and 
for the relief of the soldiers of the Union and their dependents. 

In the first years of returning peace to stand by the soldiers was 
only to float with the popular tide. The national heart was over- 
flowing with gratitude toward those who with songs and hosannas 
brought the wayward sisters back to their seats by the national altar. 
Those were the days when the pulse was still beating with the ex- 
hilaration of close contact with mighty deeds and great achievements. 
It was not in the course of nature that the open generosity which 
characterized those years should long continue. It could not be other- 
wise than that gradually selfish considerations should assert them- 
selves ; that we should with greater pertinacity dwell upon the cost, 
and more frequently insist that " we cannot afford it." 

With the growth of that sentiment which now stands appalled at 
the magnitude of our pension-list and which shudders at every effort 
t< ) extend it, General Logan's devotion 1. 1 the si rtdiers' interest asserted 
itself in renewed efforts in their behalf. Oftener than otherwise the 
pencil of the venomous cartoonist when using him as a subject cari- 
catured his efforts in behalf of the soldiers. But it was by this sign 
that a million men hailed Logan as a worthy leader, stood by him, 
swore by him, and attached themselves to him by bonds of affection 
which gave him a. personal following such as but few of our public 
men have ever been able to boasl . 

When the tidings of his unexpected death was flashed overthe coun- 
try it brought mourning to the humble hi ime of many a soldier to whom 
Logan was known only by name and by reputation. A million of 
these, who never met him, who never saw him. felt that they had 
suffered a personal loss which could never be replaced. It is a \ >r< aid 



\SQ Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

record that Logan lias left as a soldier. It will be quoted that after 
a long public career he leaves a name unstained even by a suspicion 
of dishonor. But there will be no prouder monument to his memory 
than the love and affection which so long as life shall last will dwell 
in the hearts of those who were his comrades in the war which assured 
the perpetuity of the Union and the grandeur of our common country. 



Address of Mr. Buchanan, of New Jersey. 

Mr. Speaker : It did not seem like Logan to die. That well-knit 
frame, piercing eye, and elastic step, all spoke of life and vigor, and 
added years of activity. But even as we looked with admiration 
upon his strength and vitality, the conqueror came, strength became 
weakness, and life was death. 

Ah, well, the years sweep swiftly on; 

Death's sickle does not, may not. rest . 

And shall not spare the brave, the best, 
For any prayer, for any moan. 

And to-day we cease for a little while from our wonted labor, and, 
sinking all that would separate us, stand animated by one thought 
and one fraternal feeling before the tomb wherein lies all that is 
mortal of a brother who has preceded us by but a few short days- 
God alone knows how few — to the other shore. 

Others have spoken of his early life and its trials and triumphs. 
of his deeds of valor as the citizen soldier, and his long and brilliant 
career as a statesman. Mine the lot for a few brief minutes to speak 
< if him as an orator and a scholar. To those whose fortune it was to 
hear him in debate or upon the platform it is not necessary to say 
that Logan was an orator in the highest and best sense of the term. 

Ee did not use the tricks or cultivate the cheap devices of the 
mere declaimer. Life was too earnest for him, and his time was too 
short for this. He had the best of all attributes of the orator, an 
intense conviction of the truth of his utterances, and an earnestness 
of manner born of that conviction. He spoke because he had some- 
thing to say. anil which he believed needed to he said. What he 
believed lie believed with all the intense earnestness of his nature, 
and he uttered it with equal intensity and earnestness. However 
much a, listener might differ from him in sentiment, that hearer 
always felt that Logan was sincere. 



Address of Mr. Buchanan, of New Jersey. 187 

This it was which gave him such power as an orator. This it was 
which enchained the attention of his fellow Senators and thronged 
the halls where he spoke. The world will always listen to an earnest 
and sincere man. Rhetoric and grace and sweetness, rounded period, 
and swelling peroration, all these please the ear; but Logan hurled 
rugged truth, in impassioned utterance, at the mind and conscience 
of his hearers. He did not stop to parley, but thundered out his 
thought and moved straight upon the enemy's works. A debate was 
with him no dress-parade, but a battle as real and earnest for the 
time being as any he had helped to win as a soldier beneath his 
country's flag. 

And yet when the occasion came he could be gentle as a child and 
tender as a woman. Let a comrade fall by the way and no tenderer 
or kinder voice spoke his virtues than did the voice of Logan. 

Less than one year ago, standing beside the tomb of his great leader, 
Grant, he uttered these words : 

Friends, this noble man's work needs no monument, no written scroll in order 
that it may be perpetuated. It is higher than the dome of St. Paul's, loftier than 
S.. Peter's, it rears itself above the Pyramids, it soars beyond the highest mountain 
tops, and it is written in letters of the sunbeam across the blue arch that forever 
looks down upon the busy tribes of men. 

Logan was a scholar. Born far from the culture of city and 
school, reared amid the surroundings of a new home in the then far 
West, he heard in his boyhood days the ruder forms of speech often 
incident to the frontier. Later he profited by the culture of the 
schools, yet sometimes when warmed in debate or carried away by 
his earnestness he would momentarily forget that culture and relapse 
to the speech he learned in his boyhood days. 

This did not happen often nor to any great extent, but slight as it 
might be it was eagerly seized upon by those who would rather wound 
a proud and sensitive spirit than miss an item, and it was sent out 
to the world as his habitual custom. This was cruel and unjust. I 
personally know that it caused many a pang not only to his heart but 
to the heart of his noble and loving wife. 

Logan was a scholar. Go to the library in yonder lonely home. 
Look over the volumes which fill its shelves. The best thought of 
ancient and modern times is there. The treasures of Greek and Bo- 
man stand side by side with the gems of German. French, and Eng- 
lish literature. His books were read, studied, mastered. No idle 
ornaments these. Daily companions of the master were they. No 



188 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

delight so keen after his years of activity in camp and field as to sit 
surrounded by these mighty minds and hold deep converse with them, 
and as the years rolled by their influence was shown more and more 
with each successive utterance, until his great " oration at the tomb 
of < jrant" showed how ripe a scholar he had become. 

Human utterances pass away with the occasion and are forgotten. 
Here and there one survives and passes into the world's treasure- 
house of thought. That oration of his will live. It contains the seeds 
of immortal ity. None but the mind of a scholar could have conceived 
it and wrought it into form with its wealth of illustration and allu- 
sion. As he marshals the Pyramids of Egypt, the Tombs of Mexico, 
the Sculptures of Yucatan, and the Mounds of North America as 
mute witnesses of man's yearning after immortality, we think with 
what a wealth of effort these material structures were wrought, and 
forget the years of patient thought and unwearied study which qualify 
a mind to give to the world an immortal thought. 

That patient thought, that unwearied study was his. Shall his 
work survive the coming centuries ? The pyramid builder moldered 
into dust almost ere history began, and his work yet stands. So, too, 
the child rescued from "the marshes of the Nile " has left his impress 
on thirty centuries of mind and thought. A yearning for immor- 
tality, a desire to leave an impress upon the thought of his age, seems 
to have been upon Logan as he penned that oration, and it will take 
its place among the works the world will not let die. 

But time hastens, and one word more may be allowed me. That 
busy brain is stilled, but somewhere in the broad universe of God 
that spirit lives. One famous to-day, standing by the open grave of 
a beloved brother, could only grope in the dark for some faint glim- 
merings from the other shore. George Eliot, as her mighty brain 
turned to things celestial, could only breathe a despairing wish to join 
the "choir invisible," but to the clearer faith of Lex; an the life be- 
yond was real, and in that faith he crossed the river. The battle is 
over and the soldier is at rest. God be thanked for his life. God 
be praised for such rest. 



Address of Mr. Ward, of Illinois. 139 



Address of Mr. Ward, of Illinois. 

Mr. Speaker : Where duty and veneration combine, even funeral 
sadness is made lighter and less sad. In common with the Senate, 
this House owes to the nation and to mankind the duty of recording- 
its estimate of a departed public servant. As a fellow-citizen of the 
same city and State it becomes my duty to speak of the merits of our 
departed Logan. His demise leaves a felt vacancy in the Senate 
Chamber, where the drapery of sorrow woefiilly speaks the loss to 
that body. 

Not less significant were the nation-wide acknowledgments of 
that loss echoed hack to these Halls in the chimes of funeral bells 
across this continent. The North tolled their bereavement, the 
South rang out the same sad dirge, and the clanging was repeated 
from East and West. Such a man's death is the nation's loss, and 
each citizen singly deplores it. The bank of human friendship is 
invincible in its strength of deposit : but its great assets were lessened 
when John A. Logan was removed to a higher sphere. 

There is an immortality beyond this life. The power of a great 
mind, the success of a superior human intellect, can not be buried in 
death, and Logan will live forever in memory's world. Upon our 
own and the actions of coming generations his living influence is and 
will be shown. The tracery of his character has become interwoven 
with the nature of this generation, and can not die while our Repub- 
lic exists. His stern personality has stamped itself upon much of 
our abler legislation. 

As we look upon his desk at the other end of the Capitol : as they 
wait in vain his coming to the Senate Chamber ; as we tearfully ac- 
knowledge that at his family gathering " there is one vacant chair," 
we are forced to say "Logan is dead" ; but other proofs bid us de- 
clare the influence of his life still burns and beats in the pulses of 
his surviving fellow-citizens. 

As a private soldier in the United States Army in the war with 
.Mexico ; as one of that army's best staff officers : as a colonel, and 
finally major-general, in his country's cause for the suppression of 
the rebellion, the same marked characteristics governed General 
Logan — a stern sense of duty that would admit of neither compro- 
mise nor hesitation in performance. 



190 



Life and Character of Joint A. Logan. 



At the beginning of the war the republican idea in full had not 
been completely developed. It was an evolution from the conflict of 
two antagonistic opinions. An idea in government had yet to be 
worked out. The idea of Hamilton and the idea of Jefferson, formu- 
lated, as each believed, in the Constitution, were never appreciated 
by the people of the different sections of this Union that of a central- 
ized Government supported by independent local commonwealths 
called States. The problems of State rights and National Govern- 
ment were involved and had to be satisfactorily adjusted. 

In that adjustment General Logan could see that it was Union or 
no Union, fragmentary existence or a great nationality, and his 
sword flashed quick for Union, and flashed in triumph for the great 
and grand cause. The end which he sought was an undivided Union 
and universal freedom. He threw himself far into the battle, and 
never saw the rear until peace smiled over the Union restored and 
freedom re-established. 

If we scan the whole life of John A. Logan, his mature years— 
those years which other men devote to the business of acquiring for- 
tune—he consecrated to his country on bloody fields and in legislative 
halls, in the dual service of soldier and statesman. In a long career 
of usefulness and distinction in civil life he most efficiently aided in 
those measures of reform legislation that do credit to this country. 
At the close of the war, worn and torn by the strain of battle, with- 
out stopping for rest, he threw all his strength into the breach the 
war had made between the sections, to heal it by his statesmanship, 
and when death closed his eyes he was a poor man. 

His civil services began in 1849 as clerk of his county court. He 
served his people in the Illinois legislature in 1852. 185:5, 1850. and 
1S57, and served in the Thirty-sixth. Thirty-seventh, Fortieth, and 
Forty-first Congresses, and in the United States Senate from 1871 to 
1S77. Again he obeyed the people's call and was returned to the 
United States Senate in 1879, and was re-elected in 1885, where he 
was found busy when the great summons came, " Cease from labor."' 
It would appear difficult In add to this lifetime of public service. 
When the boy had barely merged into the man he left home and its 
comforts, profession and its ambition, to enter the United States 
Army as a private in the war with .Mexico. Again with his loyal 
fellow-citizens he volunteered to defend his country against internal 
enemies. He served throughout that war, starting in as colonel, 



Address of Mr. Gallinger. of New Hampshire. igi 

coming out as major-general. His work was done amid the smoke 
and iron kail of Belmont, Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Lookout 
Mountain, Atlanta, and in the march to the sea. 

By the brilliancy of his movements, by the chivalry of his conduct, 
he unconsciously made himself the idol of American soldiery. The 
peer of the highest, the friend of the humblest in the land, John A. 
Logan was a model American citizen .He was a statesman whose 
purity of character prevented his being a mere politician. Firm in 
his political convictions, as he was in all his opinions after due con- 
sideration, he was also as invincible a warrior in the arena of politics 
as when a soldier in the field of actual war, and as cowardice was im- 
possible to him in the latter, so neither was he unjust or malicious in 
debate. 

Successful or defeated, he came out of his public contests without 
the shadow of malice or revenge. In private life his character was 
as unspotted as in public. His integrity was never impugned, his 
motives never questioned, or his conduct charged with darkness. 
The graceful symmetry of his daily life left not a single angle upon 
which could hang the frosty breath of slander. The shafts of envious 
or malicious traducement struck harmlessly against that character or 
fell broken from its adamantine surface. 

Viewing such a character in all its rounded grandeur, I may close 
my remarks by holding that character up as a picture-lesson to the 
young men of our country. 



Address of Mr. Gallinger, of New Hampshire. 

Mr. Speaker: When a few weeks ago, in the solitude of my own 
home, bowed down by a great personal sorrow, the news of the death 
of John A. Logan flashed over the wires I could not but feel that 
another personal grief had come to my heart. For every man in this 
nation who loves liberty and loyalty and law loved him in whose 
memory these words of eulogy are being spoken to-day. 

It was not my good fortune to intimately know General Logan. 
yet when I came to Washington in December, 1885, it was my priv- 
ilege to bring a letter of introduction from one of his warmest per- 
sonal friends, and I shall never forget the warmth of the greeting 
then received, or the kind request, frequently afterward repeated as 



192 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

we casually met, to visit him at his home. That pleasure was still 
in anticipation when death so suddenly removed the noble man and 
brave soldier, and carried to that household the darkness of desola- 
tion and the overwhelming grief of crushed and bleeding hearts. 

But it was not necessary for one to personally know General Logan 
to gain a knowledge of his character and attributes. His record is 
written on every page of the history of his country since the troub- 
lous times commencing in 1860. When that great conflict came and 
the nation needed brave men to defend it Logan threw all his energy, 
strength, and heroism into the scale, and came out of that terrible 
struggle with a record for bravery and military skill equal at least to 
that of any man who fought on either side. Ttapidly rising from a 
private to major-general, he was the pride and glory of the men whom 
he commanded. 

His battles were nearly all victories, and in them he was a con- 
spicuous figure, inspiring his men by deeds of daring unexcelled in 
the military history of the world. What wonder that he was the 
idol of the veterans of our late war! What wonder that the common 
soldier, recalling the events of that great conflict, turned to John A. 
Logan as his best friend! What wonder that wherever soldiers con- 
gregated — around the camp-fire and at their reunions — the mention 
of Logan's name was always greeted with manifestations of delight! 
And surely this record alone — the love and honor of the men who 
left home and dear ones to do brave battle for the Constitution and 
the Union — is enough to immortalize the memory of one of the 
greatest generals of modern times. 

But Logan was not only a great soldier — he was equally a great 
civil leader. Examine the long record of his public life, and not a 
blot is on the page. Earnest, aggressive, and eloquent, his words 
always reflected honest convictions and high purposes. The arts of 
the demagogue were unknown to him, the tricks of the mere politician 
were antagonistic to his ideas of public duty. As so many have tes- 
tified to-day, he loved truth for truth's sake and despised pretense 
and shams of every kind. Loyal to his country, he was equally loyal 
to his convict ions on all public matters, and wherever the finger of 
duty beckoned he followed fearlessly and triumphantly. 

In every department of life — whether as soldier, legislator, coun- 
selor, or friend — in the army, in the Senate, or anywhere among his 
fellow-men, he was the circle of profound respect and loving admira- 



Address of 3Ir. Gallinger, of New Hampshire. J 93 

tion, while in the sacred precincts of his own home he was the light, 
the joy, and the inspiration, and the deep and overwhelming grief 
that to-day sweeps over the heart of the loving companion of his 
life-work is, after all, the most eloquent tribute that can be paid to 
his memory. 

Logan was a great man in the best meaning of that word. He 
was both physically and intellectually strong. He towered above 
tlic masses as some great tree towers above its fellows. 

In my own State, on a lofty mountain peak, is the perfect face of 
a man, formed by the rocks without the aid of human intelligence or 
human effort. Tourists from distant lands come to gaze upon " the 
great stone face," and go away with feelings of awe and admiration. 
It is a grand face— grand in its dignity and its impressiveness— a 
face that haunts one in after years, and tells the story of nature's 
grandeur and glory. And so, too, there are men who tower to the 
mountain tops of human experience and acquirement, and look down 
upon their fellows in the valleys below. Such a man- was Logan — 
a great, strong, noble soul— a natural leader of men. and utterly in- 
capable of the petty meannesses that mar so many lives. 

But, notwithstanding his greatness, for him " life's fitful fever" 
has ended. His ambitions, struggles, anxieties, disappointments, 
and triumphs are all equally at rest. Were it not for the greatness 
of his achievements it might be said that — 

Wealth ami glory, and place and power. 

What are they worth to me or you V 
For the lease of life runs out in an hour. 

And Death stands ready to claim his due. 
Sounding honors or heaps of gold, 
Whe^ are they all when all is told ! 

But for a man like Logan, who left a legacy of good deeds and 
honorable ambition, death only emphasizes the greatness of his life 
and adds increased luster to his name. And so long as humanity 
honors real worth and noble endeavor, the name of John A. Logan 
will be a cherished memory in the heart of every true citizen of the 
Republic. 

13 L 



194 Life and Character of John A. Logan, 



Address of Mr. Plumb, of Illinois. 

Mr. Speaker : The stream of human life flows on ceaselessly, its 
tide never ebbs, the springs that support it are as unfailing as that 
great fountain of purity and love which constitutes the soul of the 
Universe, the Infinite Father of us all. To us who are but infinitesi- 
mal drops in the eddying flood of humanity the death knell of our 
fellows brings fitting occasions on which to fathom, if possible, the 
deep meaning and the true object of the miracle of our existence. 

The fell destroyer comes to all ranks and conditions and hurls his 
fatal shafts at loved ones in the humble cottage and in the lordly 
mansion. No position or place can enable us to elude his summons 
when the appointed hour has fully come. 

Since the commencement of the present Congress twelve members 
in both branches have joined the " silent majority/' and it is that we 
who remain may pay proper tribute to the memory of the last of 
these, General tlOHN A. Logan, United States Senator from Illinois, 
that this hour is set apart. 

Mr. Speaker, it is but a few weeks since Senator Logan sat in his 
honored seat in the other end of the Capitol in his accustomed health 
and in the full possession of that mental vigor with which he was so 
richly endowed ; but, alas, he can never again occupy that seat ; the 
funeral cortege has followed his mortal remains to the grave, and the 
nation is in mourning. From the sparkling waters of the Aroostook 
to the murky Rio Grande Del Norte, from the everglades of Florida 
to beyond the Olympic Mountains to far-off Alaska, there is no city 
or town, and scarce a rural neighborhood, where the thoughts and 
emotions of people have not been profoundly moved by the event we 
are here to contemplate. 

Representatives, I appeal to you. what better use can we who for 
the present are intrusted with official power make of the present oc- 
casion than to seek here and now most earnestly tor t lie secret of the 
dead Senator's stronghold on the confidence and affection of the 

American j pie? This seeking cannot be successful without a 

broader view than any single life can furnish. 

General Logan lived in a period of our national history replete 
with remarkable events — $ period in which men in public life en- 
countered those crucial tests that not only developed characters, but 



Address of Mr. Plumb, of Illinois. 195 

decided whether they were to live in the hearts of their countrymen 
as benefactors of the race, or, on the contrary, to be either entirely 
forgotten or remembered only to be execrated. In the brief time 
allotted me I will only allude to a few of these tests as applied to 
General Logan, and these only to show that had he failed to per- 
ceive the right, or lacked the courage of his convictions, the name 
that is now on the lips of all would not be known to-day, nor his mem- 
ory fondly cherished by sixty millions of people. 

Returning from the Mexican war, in which it was but natural that 
one full of intellect, courage, ambition, and physical strength, as was 
young Logan, should enlist, we find him entering at once into poli- 
tics, an active member of the dominant paiiy, receiving promotion 
at its hands, first to the legislature of his State, and then to Congress — 
ready and anxious to enter upon any work which promised to him 
political success. 

At the period of which I am now speaking the storm which had 
Ik 'en gathering for a quarter of a century was ready to burst upon 
the country. Lincoln, who up to this time was opposed by Logan, 
had been inaugurated President. The slave power thus beaten at 
the polls and defeated in its avowed purpose of extending the curse 
of slavery to every acre of our territorial domain, to the end that 
their darling institution might be made the corner-stone of the Re- 
public, had already begun to move in open rebellion. 

The great political party from which Logan had received recog- 
nition and place, although stunned and shocked by the proposed re- 
bellion, was still the champion of slavery; the infamous doctrine of 
secession for the sake of slavery had no defender outside of the party 
of which he was a member, and it was under such conditions that 
the real qualities of John Alexander Logan were first put to the 
crucial test that was to settle his political career. 

The shock of the rebellion revealed young Logan to himself; it 
f< mud him a politician, it made him a statesman. The new light that 
shone upon him '"was above the brightness of the sun." and in it he 
saw as never before the fell purpose of the •"Great Conspiracy" and 
the dire consequences of its success. His eagle eye scanned the con- 
tact as if it were a raging battle, and his mind was made up. To 
him liberty and union were one and inseparable, and on their perpe- 
tuity must advancing civilization depend: without them, he could see 
no hope for "liberty enlightening the world.'* 



196 Life and Character of Joint A. Logan. 

Mr. Speaker, it is easy for us now to look back upon this trying 
hour and in the light of history see that it was easy to ignore party 
and stand by the flag; but, sir, I can well understand that to cut 
loose at once and forever from the ties that had bound young Logan 
(then but about thirty-two years of age) to his political associates, 
and to consecrate himself from that hour to the flag and to freedom, 
was to try him as by fire. The occasion was just such a one as 
was in its nature calculated to call into exercise those qualities of 
mind and heart that have made Senator Logan a conspicuous figure 
in our national history. It was his ability to perceive what duty de- 
manded and courage to do it that made him what he was. This, sir, 
is the key-note to his character, this the secret of his power, this the 
pathway that led him to renown. Having chosen the true path in 
that trying hour, let us see how faithfully he followed it. 

He knew full well that crushing the rebellion meant the emanci- 
pation of the negro and his elevation to citizenshij), but he felt that 
it was right, and he dared to enlist all his powers to accomplish that 
end. He knew that rebellion, such as that waged for the preservation 
of human slavery by a government based solely mi the idea of man's 
right to freedom was a crime, and he never failed to denounce it as 
such. He knew that the true patriot would give his life, if need he, 
to his country; and without hesitation or delay he entered the serv- 
ice, was a true and gallant soldier, an able and successful com- 
mander, always ready to lead his men where duty called, whether to 
shelter and rest or to fighting and fatigue. Logan never turned his 
back on the foe in the fight, upon an opponent in debate, nor upon a 
friend anywhere. In all these things he was right, and dared to 
stand there because it was right. 

When the rebellion had been crushed, and LOGAN was once more 
in his place in the councils of the nation, he met each question that 
arose in the trying work of reconstruction in the same way that he 
decided to change his political course — by choosing what was right, 
and going straight forward t<> accomplish it. 

He was the soldiers' true friend, because lie knew that the nation 
owes tot he army of the Union a debt that it can never pay. With 
him it was no sham affection, it was a. comrade's love for comrades, 
and in every speech and vote in Congress, and elsewhere, he never 
failed to make his regard for the members of the Grand Army ef- 
fective for their good. For the soldier, whether officer or private, 



Address of Mr. Plumb, of Illinois. 197 

who through either cowardice or insubordination failed to obey the 
orders of his superiors, he had nothing but earnest condemnation, 
which no influence could induce him to withhold. 

He was for protection for the sake of protection, and because the 
principle is a right one it had his support. 

He was for giving national aid to the cause of common-school edu- 
cation, believing that illiteracy is the natural enemy of free institu- 
tions and that its obliteration at whatever cost would be a saving of 
money to the nation. He believed that the enfranchised negro by 
being educated would better discharge Ins duties as a citizen, and 
with it would vindicate his right to a recognition as a peer among 
his fellow-men. It was by his especial championship that the bill 
now before this House to aid the common schools in the States and 
Territories was amended by an appropriation of $2,000,000 for the 
erection of school-houses wherever the colored people are too poor to 
erect them, ho that all might secure the priceless boon of a common- 
school education. 

His firm adherence to the right went with him into social and 
family life, and in these relations won for him the highest meed of 
praise. He knew full well that the heart of a true woman naturally 
furnishes to man a rich soil, which needs only his cultivation to 
insure ample returns in all that is needed to make home happy. All 
this he enjoyed in abundant measure, furnishing an example to 
which all good citizens can point with pride and emulate with profit. 
Mr. Speaker, if my time would permit I would touch briefly upon 
more of the acts of the great soldier and statesman that go to show 
that he owed his proud position as a public man to his fearlessness 
in doing whatever he thought to be right, but I must forbear. 

Sir, the State which I have the honor in part to represent on this 
floor has furnished her full quota of the illustrious men who have 
been great actors in the period in our national history to which I 
have before referred. That grandest of Presidents (Lincoln) and 
that greatest of captains (Grant) both matured their manhood as 
citizens of Illinois; but Logan, worthy to have been the Chief Magis- 
trate of the nation, the great volunteer general of the war, whose 
name and memory will be linked with Lincoln and Grant as long as 
history shall be read, Illinois proudly claims as her own son. 

Whatever may be the conclusion of the philosopher or the faith of 
the Christain as to the life to come, we can never again on earth 



198 



Life and Character of John A. Logan. 



look upon the manly form of John Alexander Logan. His voice, 
so often raised in defense of the integrity of the Union and of uni- 
versal freedom, will never more be heard in this Capitol ; the people 
of the United States who have so often been moved by his earnest 
appeal will never greet him again with their hearty cheers ; the vet- 
erans of the Union Army who loved him so well can never again 
rend the air with their shouts at his appearance ; but he can not be 
forgotten. 

Let monuments be erected to his memory, let orator and poet 
chronicle his worthy deeds ; but when the marble no longer depicts 
to our eyes his manly figure, when eloquence and song can no longer 
charm us with the recital of his noble qualities, coming generations 
will speak of his worth and be influenced by his example. 



Address of Mr. Jackson, of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Speaker: I regard it as eminently fit and appropriate that 
Congress should in this formal manner place upon its records the 
testimony of the living to the worth, virtue, and high character of 
the man who was so recently one of its most distinguished members. 
John A. Logan, to the honor of whose memory this House has ceased 
its ordinary business and strives to pay a sincere and heartfelt tribute, 
was much more than a distinguished Representative or Senator in 
Congress. 

He was a man who in a life half a score years shorter than the 
Psalmist's allotted time, demeaned himself so well as citizen, as vol- 
unteer soldier, as commander of regiment, brigade, division, corps, 
and army, as legislator in these Halls, that I am at a loss to say in 
which position he did most to gain that pre-eminence he so justly 
holds in the hearts of his countrymen. 

His was an active life that from early manhood down to within a 
few days of his death scarce knew a day's repose. Endowed with a 
strong constitution and unusual vigor of body and mind, he might. 
so far as we can judge, with ordinary labor in the usual walks of life, 
have lived to a. good old age. 

But he had a brain and will that would not endure rest and quiet, 
and he literally " wore his life away "' as a prominent actor in the 
stirring, eventful, and. I may say in part, fearful and terrible, times 
in which his lot was cast. It was his fortune to live in an age in 



Address of Mr. Jackson, of Pennsylvania. 199 

which the greatest events of modern times have transpired. We do 
not, perhaps, fully realize that we have ourselves been eye-witnesses 
and, in part, humble participants in the most important part of our 
country's history. No matter how grand or glorious a future lie be- 
fore us, to the generations yet to come, the history of our country 
for the past thirty years must for all time be the most interesting 
and important to the student and patriot. During all this time tin- 
record of the life and services of John A. Logan is so blended with 
the history of our country that they are inseparable. 

It is not that in every quality of mind or capacity for service he 
excelled each and all of his associates, but it is because in every 
position he has occupied, from the lowest to the highest, he has 
acquitted himself as one of the best representative citizens of his age. 
Since the death of Grant, the great chieftain whose soul went up to 
God from Mount McGregor, no citizen of the United States was so 
well known as Logan. His name was in very truth a household 
word throughout the land. His every act was open to inspection 
and criticism. How honestly, how wisely, how modestly he has 
borne himself in every condition and under every circumstance let 
history answer ; yea, more, let those who were from time to time his 
opponents be his judges, and his reputation is safe. 

He will be remembered as a progressive statesman, who was prompt 
to recognize the high responsibilities and duties that came in his day 
upon this nation. He strove to garner the fruits of the war. that 
coming generations might enjoy the benefits of the heroic sacrifices 
that were made to save the Government, He was a sincere adv. icate 
of the rights of labor, a friend of law and order, and, in favor of his 
own countrymen, consistently demanded the protection of American 
industries from foreign pauper competition. 

Of his success as a leader in times of peace and in the broad field 
of true politics I leave others to speak more at length. 

As has already been well said here to-day, he sat in this Hall with 
Thaddeus Stevens, James G. Blaine, and James A. Garfield, and 
was accounted their equal in party control ; that in theSenate of the 
United States he divided leadership with Charles Sumner. Oliver P. 
Morton. Roscoe Colliding, and John Sherman, and, I may add, that 
but few men have ever lived in our country who had as many en- 
thusiastic, devoted foUowers who hoped to see their chief fill with 
honor the high office of President. 



200 



Life and Character of John A. Logan. 



It was my fortune to serve for four years as a soldier in the Army 
of the Tennessee, of which General Logan was from the first a promi- 
nent leader, and at last its commander, and I know I speak the gen- 
eral sentiment of the soldiers of that army when I join in deep sorrow 
and with full and overflowing heart to pay a tribute of honor, friend- 
ship, and love to his memory. The Army of the Tennessee was suc- 
cessively commanded by Grant, Sherman, McPherson, Howard, and 
Logan. It has always been the boast of those who served in it that 
it never had a commander that was not a success and never had one 
removed except to be given a higher command. Yet it was as a sub- 
ordinate and later as a successor to such distinguished and never-to- 
1 it '-forgotten men that Logan won and maintained the high place he 
holds in the confidence and esteem of the soldiers of that Army. 

Long before he became its commander he was as well known to the 
men of the Army of the Tennessee as either Grant, Sherman, or Mc- 
Pherson. I do not mean to say he was superior to either of them. 
But he was a real soldier, a man of immense force and power, who 
had the confidence of the army, and I can recall more than one occa- 
sion when his presence on the field under fire was, in my judgment, 
worth "more than a thousand men." There is, perhaps, no soldier 
who served in that army but who can recall incidents of the camp, 
the march, and the field in which Logan was prominent and with 
which he will always associate his name. 

It would be a pleasure to here recount the battles, marches, and 
campaigns in which he took a prominent part, but time will not per- 
mit. To do so would be but to repeat the greater part of the st i >ry 
of the four years' gallant and heroic service of the Army of the Ten- 
nessee. That story is a well-known part of our country's glorious 
history. It embraces Belmont and Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, and 
Vicksburg, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. It includes 
the terrible campaign from Chattanooga to Atlanta, with its weeks 
of unceasing battle, described by a private soldier in a letter to his 
wife as " the battle of May and June," the " March to the Sea," with 
Savannah, Bentonville, and Raleigh. 

Hut the tour long years of war ended, ••({lad was our army that 
morning" when we heard the joyful news that Johnston had surren- 
dered. Peace had come at last and visions of home and loved ones 
were before us. 

Soon the grand review followed at Washington, where the veteran 



Address of Mr. Jackson, of Pennsylvania. 201 

armies of the Union were accorded a triumph unequaled in history. 
Then the Army of the Tennessee, under the command of General 
Logan, moved to Louisville, Ky., preliminary to its muster out of 
service. I hold in my possession now, as one of the most valued 
mementoes of the war, the order from General Logan directing me 
to proceed with my regiment to the State where it was organized, to 
muster it out of service, and send the men to their homes. 

It is the wonder of the world that immense armies of veteran sol- 
diers like we had at the close of the civil war could he disbanded at 
once, and .that men inured to long service in the field would make 
peaceable, industrious citizens. But it should be remembered that 
Logan and the soldiers he commanded entered the Army not for 
military glory, norfor love of the profession of arms. The alarm of 
war found them citizens busily engaged in the employments that 
many years of peace made possible in our beloved country. The 
threatenings of wicked men to destroy the Government had so long 
fallen unheeded upon their ears that some said this people lack the 
courage and the manhood to resent an insult or defend the heritage 
of their fathers. 

But when the first blow was struck by traitor hands, and the Chief 
Magistrate called the citizens to arms, how changed ! Then it was 
that the farmer boys left their homes, the mechanic his simp, the 
student his books, organized themselves into companies and regi- 
ments, tendered their services as soldiers to their country, and 
marched to the front with an enthusiasm and a determination that 
astonished the world. Nor was it an enthusiasm of the hour, to be 
chilled by the first reverse or defeat. It was a settled determination, 
born of the belief that they were right and their enemies were wrong. 
It was a firm conviction that underlying the contest was a great 
moral principle, and, appealing to the God of battles for His support, 
they went forth to fight for their country as their highest duty. 

No wonder that such soldiers as these, when the rebellion was 
destroyed and the Government was saved with the blot of slavery 
effaced, laid down their arms, went to their homes, and became the 
best of citizens. 

We yet see how uncomplainingly many of these men bear the 
twinge and pain of wounds received in battle, which each year grow 
more severe, and pass their declining days with broken health and 
suffering with diseases contracted in their severe service. 



202 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

It has been said here to-day, as it is often said elsewhere, that 
Logan was the highest type of this class of volunteer soldiers ; that 
he was the personification of that host of patriotic young men who left 
homes and pleasant vocations at the call of their country. I think 
there is much truth in this, and that it is one of the highest honors 
that can be accorded to him. But I think there is too much weight 
given to the idea that he attained his popularity among soldiers be- 
cause he was a volunteer officer as distinguished from officers who 
had been educated at West Point. 

The Army of the Tennessee had for commanders Grant, Sherman, 
and McPherson, all regulars, and the surviving soldiers of that 
Army, much as they love and cherish the memory of Logan, would 
not ask me to say here to-day that as a soldier and commander in the 
field he stood higher in their esteem than either of the three others 
I have named. 

I consider that Logan's conduct and services since the war had 
much to do in giving him the pre-eminent place he undoubtedly holds 
to-day in the hearts of the surviving soldiers of the Republic. After 
the war he remained in full sympathy with them and has represented 
them earnestly and fully in Congress and wherever they needed a 
spokesman or friend. 

He took great interest in all associations of soldiers; was an active 
member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was justly esteemed 
as a representative both in public ami private life of the fraternity, 
charity, and loyalty on which the order is founded. He died from 
the effects of wounds received in battle and from disease contracted 
by exposure in the service. In tins respect he is a representative of 
that vast host of soldiers who came home disabled and broken in 
health, whose lives are shortened by the service they gave their 
country. 

How it must have grieved the generous, noble heart of LOGAN to 
see such men as these neglected by the Government they had saved 
and denied the assistance that just laws would have given them. 

Not for himself did he demand additional laws to do just ire to the 
soldiers of the country, for he denied himself a pension he so justly 
deserved and could have readily obtained, only that he might better 
serve his more unfortunate comrades. 

When he died the disabled soldier and his dependent relatives lost 
not only their best but ablesl friend. Hut he is gone from earth, and 



Address of Mr. Jackson, of Pennsylvania. 203 

his body is laid to rest among his kindred in the land that gave him 
birth. A nation mourns his death. He has joined that grand army 
of patriots whose lives went out in the shock of battle or wasted 
away in hospital or prison pen. Henceforth he stands as a repre- 
sentative of the fallen. 

On Fame's eternal camping ground 

Their silent tents are spread. 
And Glory guards with solemn round 

The bivouac of the dead. 

He died not of age or lingering decay. " His eye was not dim, nor 
his natural force abated." Within a few days of his death he was 
engaged in active work. We can recall his appearance almost like 
those who fell in the field, whose lives went out in their young man- 
hood. It is a pleasing thought that we always recollect those who 
went to the army and came not back again as young and full of hope 
and high resolve. They are our "immortals." They never grow 
old. To their friends and kindred the fallen are ever young, and in 
memory live on in perpetual youth. 

Such be the recollection of him we mourn to-day. 

Logan was honored in his death by municipal and civil organiza- 
tions, by Army societies, and Grand Army posts as few men have 
ever been. From all over this broad land came resolutions of sin- 
cere condolence to the afflicted family. 

Each year hereafter on memorial day, in every cemetery, church- 
yard, and God's acre throughout our country, where a soldier's grave 
is made green, there will be a wreath for him. In every neighbi >rhood 
where they meet to "bedeck the soldiers' graves with flowers and 
bedew them with tears," when they give a double portion to the 
little mound that represents those who sleep in distant or unknown 
graves, some one "most loving of them all" will strew the flowers 
in memory of the man who instituted this beautiful ceremony. 

The credit of inaugurating this custom is all due to John A. Logan, 
who. as commander of the Grand Army, issued this beautiful and 
now historic order: 

The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or 
otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country 
during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, 
and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is 
presented, but posts and comrades will, in their own way, arrange such fitting 
services and testimonials of respect as circumstances will permit. 

We are organized, comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose, among 



204 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

other things, "of preserving and strengthening those kind ami fraternal feelings 
which have bound together the soldiers, sailors, and marines who united to sup- 
press the late rebellion." 

What can aid more to assure this result than cherishing tenderly the memory of 
our heroic dead, who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its 
foes? Their soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their 
death the tattoo of rebellion's tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves with 
sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth of the nation can add to their 
adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defend- 
ers. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant 
paths invite the going and coming of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let 
no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testily to the present or 
coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undi- 
vided Republic. 

If other eyes grow dull, and other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the 
solemn trust, ours shall keep it warm as long as the light and warmth of life 
remain to us. 

Let us then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains and gar- 
land the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of springtime ; 
let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor ; let us in this 
solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left 
among us, a sacred charge upon the nation's gratitude— the soldiers' and sailors' 
widows and orphans. 

It is the purpose of the commander-in-chief to inaugurate this observance with 
the hope that it will be kept up from year to year while a survivor of the war 
remains to honor the memory of his departed comrades. He earnestly desires the 
press to lend its friendly aid in bringing it to the notice of comrades in all parts of 
the country in time for simultaneous compliance therewith. 

Give him the honor he so feelingly, so eloquently claimed for his 
comrades, and let us be proud we are such a nation and have such 
examples among our people as the life and services of John A. 
Logan. 

Others have spoken of his domestic life better than I can do. He 
was a kind father, a loving husband, and a sincere Christian ; a man 
whose pure and exemplary conduct in private added additional 
luster to his distinguished public record. But his course on earth is 
finished. 

Close his eyes, his work is done : 

What to him is friend or foeman, 
Rise of moon or set of sun. 

Hand of man, or kiss of woman? 
Leave him to (Sod's watching eve. 

Trust him to the hand that made him ; 

Mortal love weeps idly by, 
Christ alone lias power t" aid him. 



Address of Mr. Anderson, of Ohio. 20f> 



Address of Mr. Anderson, of Ohio. 

Mr. Speaker: Why is the gavel silent on the desk, the labors of 
this House suspended, and debate stilled in these Halls, and this pres- 
ence in attendance? A great man has fallen, John A. Logan has 
been called to rest, and we are met to review his life's work and re- 
count his virtues. 

General Logan was a true type of the struggling, courageous 
frontiersman of the West. Endowed with a splendid pbysiqne, cour- 
age, energy, and a strong will, he was well equipped for the boisten ius 
voyage of life on which he was launched. He was a typical Ameri- 
can. A self-made man, he started a poor boy, he lived and died a 
poor man. 

He imbibed from the wide-stretching prairies surrounding his hum- 
ble home broad views and the true idea, of freedom. He was a man 
possessed of profound convictions and of unbending will if he believed 
he was in the light. All his personal and intellectual qualities were 
positive. 

In debate he was direct, intense, fearless. Bold in the assertion < if 
his convictions, impetuous in their vindication, he scorned evasion 
and despised hypocrisy. 

In the performance of duty he took no account of results and feared 
no consequences. He was familiar with all the weapons of debate, 
and he at times wielded the gentle power of persuasion, the convinc- 
ing force of logic, and the strong blows of ridicule, often sweeping 
before him in a tempestuous outburst of eloquence all opposition to 
the high resolves and earnest convictions of his mighty soul. 

If he lost anything by neglected education his great genius sup- 
plied the defect. He always had his armor on. and Logan, either 
in the forum or on the battlefield, was ever ready for the rencounter. 

He was the advocate of liberty and the devoted friend of the hu- 
man race. He loved his friends with unswerving fidelity and never 
deserted them. He was a friend of truth, and hated treason whether 
against his country or his friend. 

He sought to preserve the Union and maintain the Constitution ; 
he was the advocate of the universal freedom of man. Hi' labored 
to restore peace and amity between the sections of our country, and 



206 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

performed his full share in healing the animosities engendered by 
the war. He sought to cherish industry and protect labor. He en- 
couraged the settlement of our vast domain and the development of 
our resources. He came from the humbler class and his sympathies 
were always with the poor and the sons of toil. He was from them 
and one of them. 

Along the highway over which our country and people have jour- 
neyed during the past quarter of a century John A. Logan may be 
seen and traced. If he was your antagonist, he was an open one. 
scorning to attack by stealth or fight from ambush. He struck 
his blows in front and in daylight. Ready to forgive and forget a 
slight or insult done him, he was as eager to repair an injury done 
another. 

Wherever he was found he was stolid, sincere, intense, firm, honest, 
and courageous. If he was a brilliant figure in the political arena, 
he was none the less so in the military. It mattered little to Logan 
whether on the field of battle or in the Halls of Congress ; whether 
conducting his troops at the assault of Donelson or maintaining a 
debate in the Senate of the United States ; whether managing a great 
Presidential campaign or leading his army through Georgia; whether 
caressing his loved ones at home, or enduring the privations of army 
life : whether trudging along the ranks as a private soldier, or riding 
his charger at the head of his army. 

When our civil war burst like a terrible tempesi upon the nation 
Logan buckled on his sword, rushed to battle and never halted until 
slavery was dead, freedom reigned triumphant, and the union of all 
the States secured. As resistless against the foe as an avalanche 
rushing headlong from Alpine heights to desolate the plains below 
he combined the desperation of Charles XII with the generosity of a 
Caesar. 

See General Logan and his troops storming the battlements at 
Vicksburg, first to break down the enemy's stronghold and lead the 
advance into the captured city; and as long as the "King of Rivers" 
flows by those bluffs will the heroism of Logan and his men be 
remembered. The memorable assault he led at Kenesaw will he 
remembered while that mountain stands on its foundations of granite. 
But he appeared most conspicuous on July %%, 1st; 4. in front of 
Atlanta. The confederate General Hood made a desperate assault 
on the Union forces to free himself from the iron grasp of Sherman. 



Address of Mr. Anderson, of Ohio. 207 

In this engagement the Army of the Tennessee was driven back, and 
General MePherson, its commander, fell. 

Logan at once assumed command. He found the troops fatigued 
and dispirited, the enemy enthusiastic and exultant in their tempo- 
rary victory. 

Cannon to right of them, 
Cannon to left of them, 
Cannon in front of them, 
Volley 'd and thunder'd. 

Logan appeared upon the scene. He aroused the energies of his 
men for battle, cheered the despondent, and rallied the faltering. 
With head uncovered, his long black hair flying over his shoulders 
as he galloped his foaming charger along the line, he looked the im- 
personation of Mars. His voice was heard above the din and clangor 
of battle shouting to his men, "Be brave and fear not; let your 
watchword be MePherson and revenge." 

His troops caught the spirit of their commander, and hope and c« »n- 
fidence assumed sway; they sprang into the conflict, rushed ixpon the 
enemy, and in an hour's time regained all that had been lost, and 
turned threatened defeat into a glorious victory. It was this Ajax 
of the Army of the North who saved that day. The heroic deeds of 
General Logan in this battle will not be forgotten while the name of 
Atlanta is spoken by the children of men. 

Although he had not the benefit of a military education, vet he rose 
to the highest rank ever held by a volunteer officer in our country, 
aud he is justly entitled to the name of being the greatest general of 
the volunteer army of the Union. He served his country because lie 
loved it. 

During his military life he suffered much and endured much, was 
torn and mangled by shot received in action, yet he declined to receive 
a pension to which he was justly entitled. His services were not- 
rendered for bounty, nor was his patriotism to be measured by dollars 
and cents. That his life was shortened by his exposures, suffering. 
and rounds there is no room to doubt, but a mighty, patriotic people 
will cheerfully give to his disconsolate widow that pension which her 
husband declined while alive. 

Mr. Speaker, although I had but a limited acquaintance with this 
great chieftain, yet I knew him as I saw him at the head of his troops 
in Tennessee and Georgia, and as I read him in the history of the 



208 Life and Character of John, A. Logan. 

times. He was the idol of the volunteer soldier, who loved him for 
his untiring devotion to their cause in peace as much as for his lead- 
ership in war. 

Logan had a heart that never ceased to beat in sympathy and re- 
spect for the soldier that fought by his side, and to those heroic men 
who battled against him he held out the hand of a generous foe. 

In peace he had no fortune but his genius, courage, and faith ; in 
war, no friend but his valor and sword ; yet we see him measuring 
arms with men of experience, rank, and power, and write his name 
high on the escutcheon of fame, leaving the world better for having 
lived in it. 

He is dead ; dead to his State, but he lives to the nation ; dead to 
the family, but lie lives to every lover of freedom on the globe. 

Where he will be buried is not yet determined. A dozen cities 
ask for the honor of giving a resting-place to his ashes ; and I ven- 
ture to express the wish that one place suggested for interment may 
1 ie ad< ipted— that is Arlington. The place is so fitting, the surround- 
ings so niuch in harmony with his great life. 

In sight of the sacred urn at Mount Vernon an army of his dead 
comrades bivouacked around him, overlooking the capital of that 
nation he labored so hard in peace to build up and suffered so much 
in war to maintain. There may he rest in peace, where the vine and 
the wild rose will entwine their garlands over his grave ; where the 
gentle evening breeze, through the sad pines, may sigh a dirge to 
him, and the historic Potomac murmur a requiem as it hurries onto 

the sea. 

This greai man will not be forgotten. His name and deeds are 
enrolled in the history of his age and he lives in the affections of a 

patriotic i pie. He will be remembered while liberty lias a shrine 

and freedom a votary. His name will be cherished until the clouds 
forget to replenish the springs, the fountains to gush, or the rills to 
sing. 

In ages hence his lofty deeds will " be acted o'er in the nations yet 
unborn and accents yet unknown." 

Mr. Speaker, from the tears which this day fall on the bier of 
Logan the patriot, warrior, and statesman, there springs a. rainbow 
spanning our heavens giving hope and promise of I he immortality 
of the Republic. 



c 



Address of Mr. Brown, of Pennsylvania. 209 



Address of Mr. Brown, of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Speaker: The heritage of good deeds is mightier for a na- 
tion's defense than many armies with banners. It builds empires 
and conquers the foes of freedom. In the dread time of war it cre- 
ates armies and nerves them to battle for the right. The Republic 
takes pride in her great names. Though but a century old, our 
temple of fame has garnered so fast and so well within its mysti 
walls that for every exigency we have our mentor and for every 
peril our inspiration. Among the names there enshrined is now that 
of John Alexander Logan. 

I shall never forget the clear notes of the bugle blast that sounded 
••lights out*' on the 31st of December last, when this hero and pa- 
triot was left ••where the dead reign alone." There was a solemn 
stillness in the air, and out upon the heights the clouds bended low 
and wept icy tears. By the tomb where we laid him stood a com- 
rade-bugler, martial and melancholy. ••Earth to earth and dust to 
dust" was said, and then the bugle touched his quivering lips, and 
in a single breath told a story that bows a nation in grief. " Lights 
out," is the closing epitome of all that tread the earth. I cannot tell 
what was in the mind of the author of " Lights out" when he set it 
to martial music ; but in it there is more to me than its title indi- 
cates. If it announces mortality it often proclaims immortality as 
well. The better part of Logan is not in the grave— that can never 
die. For if there be no home of the soul in the bosom of our God, 
as our faith teaches there is, we know there is yet a realm wherein 
deeds die not and where human sacrifices keep vigils with the cen- 
turies and the cycles. When will the achievements of Washington 
be forgotten? When will the deeds of Lincoln die? How can time 
efface the record of that valor which gave and preserved us a. na- 
tion? Will the thunders of the Declaration of Independence cease 
amid the roll of the ages? And while the earth stands will f reed- 
men forget '-freedom's proclamation"? 

Ah ! sir, these shall all outstay the monuments that are of marble 
and of bronze ! So, too, in all generations yet to be, as they shall 
read the story of Belmont, Donelson, Corinth, Port Gibson, Ray- 
mond, Champion Hill and Vicksburg, Missionary Ridge, Kenesaw 
H L 



210 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

and Lookout Mountains, and the mighty march to Atlanta and to 
the sea, will not all these millions hless this -warrior's name and draw 
fresh inspiration from the matchless valor he achieved on these bat- 
tlefields for freedom and for freedom's citadel ? 

But there is more to challenge our admiration in the career of 
Logan than his military renown. He believed that having "let the 
oppressed go free " we should protect the freedman. He believed 
that freedom without the panoply of citizenship is a mockery, and 
hence he early championed equal rights and enfranchisement for the 
colored man. To contend for these in behalf of an outraged and 
despised race required as much courage in that transition period as 
to meet the enemy on the field of carnage. 

There never was an hour of greater peril to the Kepublic than when , 
after the war, all the leading men in one of the great parties, and 
many in the other, disclosed the purpose of leaving four millions of 
people in the nation without status and without hope of ever attain- 
ing unto citizenship. But there were "giants in those days," and 
none stood firmer or dealt more telling blows for the right than John 
A. Logan. 

I shall not attempt to explain what made Logan a leader among 
men or by what "sign he conquered." I am not certain that I could 
should I try. I know, however, that he was mighty for the right in 
every conflict in which he engaged, both in war and in peace, and I 
know that with his rugged manhood he was yet gentle and sensitive 
as a woman, and as loyal to friendship as the mother to her child. 
Whatever then may have contributed to his greatness, we are sure 
that these kindly qualities are not barriers in the highways to fame. 
Logan in the United States Senate was as conspicuous to the whole 
nation as he was to his soldiers in the day of battle. During his 
career there no man ever made a pilgrimage to the national capital, 
seeking to know her great Senators, who did not among the very 
first regard with pride and satisfaction the figure of the "warrior 
statesman from Illinois." There are few men of our time whose in- 
fluence as an orator has been so widely felt and admired as that of 
Senator Logan. No man ever questioned his ability or his skill in 
the use of the English language save the ignorant or the malicious. 
His impeachment of Fitz-John Porter in the Senate and his oration 
at the tomb of Grant are among the very best productions of this 
generation. 



Address of Mr. Cannon, of Illinois. 211 

No, we have not buried the glorious conquests in the field and in 
the forum of John A. Logan. They live and speak, and shall live 
and speak while true chivalry and exalted patriotism remain in the 

earth. 

Surely the actions of the just 

Smell sweet and blossom in the (lust. 



Address of Mr. Cannon, of Illinois. 

Mr. Speaker: Whoever pays a proper tribute to the memory of 
General Logan must write the history of the country during the late 
war and the years succeeding. 

With Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, and Thomas he was a factor— and 
not the least, in the settlement of those questions which determine 
the fate of a nation, ay, of a civilization. 

Southern Illinois was mainly peopled by immigrants from the 
Southern States. It was natural that they should bring with them 
the sentiments of the section from which they came. The prevailing- 
sentiment was one of sympathy with the South and its institutions. 

Logan was born and nurtured in Southern Illinois, and it was nat- 
ural that he should be affected by the sentiments and prejudices of 
his surroundings. 

In early manhood lie became a leader among his fellows. He was 
a soldier in the Mexican war ; later a member of the Illinois legisla- 
ture. In 1800, at the age of thirty-four, he was elected for a second 
term to the National House of Eepresentatives as a Democrat. 

The greatest popular leader in the ranks of the Democratic party 
for a generation immediately preceding the war was Stephen A. 
Douglas. Logan was his admirer, supporter, and trusted friend ; he 
gave him most earnest support in the contest in 1860 for the Presi- 
dency. The session of Congress immediately preceding the inaugu- 
ration of Lincoln was one of the most eventful and, it then appeared, 
most disastrous in the history of the country. The secession of one 
or more Southern States was of almost weekly occurrence. Fear, 
uncertainty, and panic were abroad in the land. There seemed to 
be no thoroughfare leading to the preservation of the Union. 

An effort by force to preserve the Constitution and enforce the 
laws seemed certain to not only involve the United States in a war 
with the seceding States, but also to light the fires of civil warfare 



212 Life and Character of John A. Logan. 

throughout the North. Especially was the danger imminent in the 
West, and more especially in Southern Illinois and Indiana. 

It was even suggested by the mayor of New York that that metrop- 
olis should secede and form an independent city. 

The blood of the people had not cooled between the time of choos- 
ing Presidential electors in the fall of 1800 and the inauguration of 
Lincoln on the 4th of March, 1861. 

Many Democratic partisans claimed that the Union was destroyed 
by the secession of States ; that there was no power under the Con- 
stitution to preserve the unity of the Republic by force, and even if 
such power existed, it would be wicked to use it. Some Republicans 
pronounced in favor of allowing "the wayward sisters to depart in 
peace." 

The people were anxiously asking what will Douglas do, and what 
will be the position of Logan? Many Democrats expected them to 
take grounds against Lincoln's administration, and against the use 
of force in preserving the Union. Douglas, just before his death, 
made that series of most effective speeches- — the last one in Chicago — 
in which he gave President Lincoln and the Government his hearty 
and unreserved support. Logan, with entire devotion to the country, 
united with him. To them there were only two parties, one for, and 
the other against, the preservation of the Union. 

When Douglas died Logan took his place as a leader, entered the 
Army, and did not lay down his arms until the war closed. At the 
commencement of the war, through the efforts of Douglas and Loga n. 
the North was saved from the ravages of civil warfare within its 
borders. 

Logan is universally acknowledged to have been the greatest vol- 
unteer general of the late war. In effectiveness of service to the Re- 
public history will accord him an equal meed of praise with any officer, 
either regular or volunteer, in the late war. The regular Army is 
trained in the profession of arms; it is set apart from the mass of the 
people ; its methods are arbitrary ; in the very nature of its constitu- 
tion it is without entire sympathy with the people. It is the element 
of force, to be set in motion after all other agencies have failed. 

Our people boast that our principal reliance is upon a citizen sol- 
diery for the defense of the Republic. Such an armj . a block of the 
people, called from the ordinary avocations of life, retains the hopes. 

fears, prejudices, and sentiments of the people at large, from which 
it is taken. With such an army public opinion is all-powerful. 



Address of Mr. Cannon, of Illinois. 213 

Logan not only proved a great general in the field, but by plac- 
ing bis fingers upon bis own pulse was enabled to count tbe heart- 
beats of the whole people. 

Tbe people recognized that lie was one of them. They gave him 
their confidence; to confidence they added respect, and to respect 
love. These he retained until his death. 

He was a friend of the people, and the people were his friends. 
Logan was criticised for his devotion to the well-being of his com- 
panions in arms. He felt that tbe country could not give them too 
high a meed of praise. He was convinced that tbe liberty of tbe citi- 
zen — liis security in the rights of property— in short, the very exist- 
ence of the Republic itself, was owing principally to the sacrifices. 
the bravery, the patriotism of the soldiers of the late war. He be- 
lieved that gratitude and a sound public policy alike demanded that 
the United States should be liberal in contributing to tbe support of 
those who were disabled in the line of duty, and in caring for those 
who are now disabled and dependent. 

Time, no doubt, will demonstrate that in this policy he was cor- 
rect. 

After the close of the war he was twice elected to Congress as 
Representative at Large, and three times as Senator from the State 
of Illinois. Nature made him a leader, and be did lead— in civil as 
well as in military life. 

His death is the nation's loss. His record is the nation's inheri- 
tance. He molded events in great crises. His achievements are 
examples of the value of ability when coupled with convictions. 
Whatever he did he did with all his might. His life will be a healthy 
incentive to action to tbe millions who are to follow after him. 

Logan dead will be a potent factor for good when those people who 
drift without convictions, priding themselves upon their culture in 
lieu thereof, are dead and forgotten. 

Mr. THOMAS, of Illinois. I move the adoption of the resolutions. 
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Dunham). The cpiestion is on 
the adoption of the resolutions. 

The resolutions were adopted unanimously; and in accordance 
therewith the House (at o'clock and 10 minutes p. m.) adjourned. 



